REVIEW article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agro-Food Safety
This article is part of the Research TopicWorld Food Day 2025: Current challenges and future perspectives on food security in a changing worldView all 4 articles
Plant-Based Preservation of Meat: A Critical Narrative Review of Bioactive Extracts, Essential Oils, and Next-Generation Delivery Systems
Provisionally accepted
- 1Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
- 2Department of Biology, College of Science, Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 3Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
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The increasing demand for natural and sustainable food preservatives has driven growing interest in plant-derived bioactives as alternatives to synthetic additives such as nitrites and sulfites. Essential oils (EOs) and plant extracts, especially from rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), oregano (Origanum vulgare), Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) and clove (Syzygium aromaticum), exhibit strong antimicrobial and antioxidant activities that inhibit lipid oxidation, control spoilage and pathogenic bacteria, and extend meat shelf life during refrigerated storage. This review critically examines the mechanisms of key phytochemicals (phenolics, terpenoids, and flavonoids) and recent technological advances enhancing their performance. Emerging strategies such as nanoemulsions, electrospun nanofibers, biopolymer coatings, and smart packaging enable controlled release and improved stability of bioactives while reducing sensory impact. Green extraction methods, including supercritical CO₂ and ultrasound-assisted techniques, further contribute to the recovery of heat-sensitive compounds with reduced environmental footprint. Despite these advances, several barriers,— such as compositional variability, production cost, and regulatory uncertainty, continue to limit large-scale implementation. Addressing these challenges will require integrated research combining toxicological validation, life-cycle assessment, and synergistic formulation with non-thermal preservation methods. By linking breakthroughs in nanotechnology and green chemistry with industrial scalability, this review reframes plant-based meat preservation as a multifunctional, intelligent, and sustainable system, offering a roadmap for developing safe, efficient, and eco-friendly alternatives to conventional preservatives in the global meat industry.
Keywords: active packaging, Antimicrobial activity, essential oils, Meat preservation, oxidative stability, Plants, Smart packaging
Received: 10 Oct 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Saeed, Alhudhaibi, Abdallah and ADILETTA. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Abdulrahman Alhudhaibi
GIUSEPPINA ADILETTA
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