Preserving chicken meat quality and microbial safety by supplementing mugwort essential oil in chitosan/gelatin coatings

Preservation of freshness during storage and distribution is essential for maintaining the quality and safety of chicken meat. Mugwort (<i>Artemisia vulgaris</i>), known for its abundance of bioactive compounds, has not yet been used as a natural preservative for chicken meat. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate mugwort essential oil (MEO) as an edible coating substance by incorporating it into a chitosan/gelatin coating solution and assessing its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties on chicken breasts. The base coating solution was optimized by mixing chitosan (1.5%, v/v) and gelatin (3%, v/v), considering its viscosity, coating rate, retention rate, and structure. MEO (0%, 0.5%, and 1%, v/v) was added to the optimized chitosan/gelatin edible coating solutions. The optimized edible coating containing MEO was applied to chicken breast for storage tests (14 days at 4°C). The MEO/chitosan/gelatin coating solution showed significant antimicrobial activity, including total bacterial counts, coliforms, yeasts/molds, <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> and <i>Salmonella enteritidis</i> in chicken breasts. The MEO/chitosan/gelatin-coated chicken breasts maintained their initial physicochemical quality in terms of color, pH, protein degradation, lipid oxidation, shear force, and drip loss compared to the uncoated samples. Overall, the incorporation of MEO further enhanced both the antimicrobial activity and the maintenance of the initial quality. The preservation ability of the MEO/chitosan/ gelatin coating solution may be attributed to its abundant terpenoid and flavonoid compounds. In conclusion, the addition of MEO significantly improved the preservative qualities of the chitosan/gelatin edible coating and effectively maintained the freshness of chicken breast.