Bioactive compounds of marjoram essential oil and its effect on quality characteristics and shelf‐life stability of acidophilus milk

Abstract Involving essential oil in the food industry as a natural food preservative gained a lot of interest due its healthful aspects when compared to artificial one. In this study, a new fermented milk was developed by using marjoram essential oil (MEO). The main objectives of this work were to assessment the biological active compounds in MEO, as well as examine the effect of MEO at different rates (0.3 and 0.5%) on the physio-chemical, microbiological, and sensory quality attributes of acidophilus milk (AM) during storage for 16 days at 4 °C. GC/MS analysis of MEO detected 118 compounds. MEO addition during making AM caused an enhancement in the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus ( L. acidophilus ). Whereas due to the antimicrobial activity of MEO, the growth of yeast was not observed until the 12th day, and no molds were noticed. The overall acceptability of AM was enhanced significantly ( p < 0.05) by the supplementation of MEO. These results demonstrated the potential benefits for incorporating of MEO as a functional ingredient during processing of AM. Graphical Abstract