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Extraction of bioactive compounds and essential oils from herbs using green technologies

There has been a great interest in the use of natural antioxidants in food production, in order to replace synthetic ones. Synthetic antioxidants can have adverse health effects, therefore antioxidants isolated from Mediterranean herbs could be an adequate replacement. Antioxidants from plant sources are valuable bioactive compounds with proven potential for use in the food industry, especially in meat processing, where they are used as natural antimicrobials to extend the shelf life. Extraction of biologically active compounds (BACs) and essential oils (EOs) from plants can be performed by various extraction procedures. Innovative green techniques, which are considered as environmentally friendly due to decreased use of synthetic and organic chemicals, shorter operating time, better yield and quality of extract, energy savings and lower costs, have been lately established. With respect to increase overall yield and selectivity of BACs and/or EOs from Mediterranean herbs, ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE), microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) have been the most studied methods. Therefore, this chapter summarizes the novel findings on the use of these technologies to recover BACs/EOs from Mediterranean herbs for products with high bioactive potential for further industrial use.

Mediterranean herbs ; biologically active compounds ; essential oils ; UAE ; MAE ; SFE ; antimicrobials

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