Rosmarinic acid contents in putative natural food preservatives
Conference Paper
Overview
Overview
abstract
FCT, Portugal and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2013). Project
POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006984 – Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020 -
Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) – and by national funds through FCT. FEEI
through North 2020, for financial support within the scope of the Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-023289: DeCodE and
project Mobilizador ValorNatural®, as also to Interreg España-Portugal through the project 0377_Iberphenol_6_E.
Rosmarinic acid is one of the main constituents of the only allowed food preservative extract within the
European Union, Rosemary Extract (E392) [1, 2]. This additive is extracted from rosemary (Rosmarinus
officinalis L.) leaves and stems. Thousands of plants have been screened for suitability to be used as
preservatives in the food industry, and although many are hypothetically suitable, some authors refer
sage and oregano, as potential future approved extracts, given their similarity with rosemary, in terms of
chemical composition [3]. As previously mentioned, rosmarinic acid is the most abundant phenolic
compound in rosemary extract, along with carnosol and carnosic acid, which are diterpenes [1]. Thus,
most of its antioxidant and preserving capacity are related to this molecule [4].
In this study, the authors screened rosemary aqueous extract obtained by infusions along with other plant
species that are candidates to be approved for use in the near future, namely oregano (Origanum vulgare
L.), sage (Salvia officinalis L.) and basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) in order to verify the quantities of
rosmarinic acid. Rosmarinic acid content was determined by using High Performance Liquid
Chromatography coupled to a Diode Array Detector and an Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometer
(HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS).
Overall, the highest amount of rosmarinic acid was detected in the rosemary extract (43±1 mg/g of
lyophilized infusion), followed by sage (36±2 mg/g). Basil and oregano showed a lower content,
22.23±0.01 and 20.5±0.7 mg/g, respectively.
The benefits and bioactivities of these three aromatic plants are quite vast and have been described in
recent scientific literature, and they do not pose any type of toxicity, given their use in culinary
preparations all over the world for many centuries [5, 6]. This work proves that there are other natural
extracts that can be used as food additives similarly to rosemary extract, and further diversify the offer of
natural preservative extracts in the European market.
