Antioxidant Activity of Plant Raw Materials as Natural Food Stabilizers

Antioxidants protect living organisms from free radicals, as well as prevent the destruction of lipids and other nutrients. Natural alternatives to synthetic antioxidants can extend the shelf-life of food products and improve consumers’ health. Extracts of Rosaceae berries are known for their antioxidant properties and have a good potential as food stabilizers; however, their efficiency may depend on the region. The research featured ethyl acetate extracts from mountain ash berries (Sorbus aucuparia L.), blood-red hawthorn (Crataegus sanguinea Nutt.), and black hawthorn (Crataegus nigra Waldst. & Kit.), harvested ripe in the south of the Republic of Armenia. The kinetic modeling of cumene oxidation (348 K) made it possible to determine the antioxidant activity. The experiment involved a manometric installation with automatically regulated pressure that recorded oxygen absorption in the reaction mix. The blood-red hawthorn extract demonstrated the highest antioxidant activity (k7 ≈ 5.5×10⁻3 L/mol·s), exceeding the mountain ash indicators (k7 ≈ 2.3×10⁻³ L/mol·s) by 2.5 times. The effective concentration of antioxidants in the mountain ash extracts was slightly higher (3.8 mol/L) than in the blood-red hawthorn extract (3.5–3.8 mol/L). The black hawthorn extract showed much lower indicators in both antioxidant content (0.66 mol/L) and activity (2.4×10–4 L/mol·s). However, the oxidation products of black hawthorn antioxidants exhibited a strong antioxidant activity (k71 = 6.48×10² L/mol·s), almost three times higher than the corresponding indicator for the blood-red hawthorn sample. The ethyl acetate extracts of blood-red hawthorn (Crataegus sanguinea Nutt.) and mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia L.) proved to be effective natural antioxidants that could replace synthetic food stabilizers and extend shelf-life. Despite its low initial antioxidant activity, the black hawthorn extract (Crataegus nigra Waldst. & Kit.) might be recommended for specific food systems with prolonged protective effects.