Safety Assessment of Essential Oil as a Food Ingredient

Abstract

Essential oils are highly concentrated compounds extracted from plants that are frequently used for flavor and preservative properties due to its antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. Besides its large use, there is a lack of studies regarding its its safety as food ingredient. In this book chapter, we summarized the main essential oils used as food ingredient, describing its chemical composition, antioxidant activity and potential against food-borne pathogens, as well as studies reporting care in the safety of its use. In research using PubMed database with the keywords “essential oil”, “food”, and the list of oils Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by Food and Drug Association (FDA), the four oils with the highest research numbers were Origanum spp. (461), Thymus vulgaris (138), Citrus aurantium (113), and Rosmarinus officinalis (109). Most of the information available regarding safety are related to oral toxicity tests in laboratory animals. Overall, the data confirms most of the oils listed in GRAS as safety, although some of them have no data available or have study describing toxicity. This chapter highlights essential oils potential as natural alternative for increasing food shelf-life through multiple pathways of action, although clinical and toxicological studies can be improved.