Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), worldwide appreciated and used as condiments, dyes, and preservatives, possess several biological properties that justify their continuous application in the food industry. In the present study, the nutritional and chemical profiles, as well as the bioactive properties of four combinations of condiments, sold for seasoning poultry, meat, fish, and salads, were evaluated. Twenty-five phenolic compounds (HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS) were identified, with apigenin-O-malonyl-pentoside-hexoside as the major compound detected in all extracts. Oxalic and citric acids were identified in all mixtures (UFLC-PDA), as well as all the four tocopherol isoforms (HPLC-fluorescence). Regarding bioactivities, the mixtures for meat and salads (TBARS) and meat and poultry (OxHLIA) stood out for their antioxidant potential, whereas for the anti-inflammatory and antitumor properties, the mixtures revealing the greatest results were those for poultry and salad, respectively. In terms of antimicrobial activity, all the mixtures revealed the capacity to inhibit the growth of some bacterial strains. In brief, condiment mixtures showed to be a good source of bioactive compounds, as they confer health benefits, validating the importance of their inclusion in the human diet as a good dietary practice.
The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020); national funding by F.C.T. and P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for C.P., M.I.D., R.C.C. and L.B. contracts and A.K.M. (2020.06231.BD) and M.A.-O. (2020.06297.BD) PhD
grants. To FEDER-Interreg España-Portugal programme for financial support through the project TRANSCoLAB 0612_TRANS_CO_LAB_2_P; to ERDF through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project GreenHealth-Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000042.
