Plant essential oils (EOs) serve as a “safe” alternative to chemical or synthetic antimicrobials and antioxidants to
struggle with the food borne pathogens or spoilage organisms, inhibiting lipid oxidation so, the effect of some
essential oils as thyme (thymus vulgaris), cinnamon (cinnamomum zeylanicum) and garlic (Allium sativum) at
concentrations (1%) as natural preservatives as well as their ability to increase the shelf life of minced meat, and
also their effects on bacterial agents as Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli and sensory properties of minced meat
after 3 hrs, 1
st
, 2
nd
, 3
rd
, 4
th and 5th day during cold storage at 4°C. The obtained results showed that treated samples
revealed decreasing values of S. aureus and E. coli counts and improving sensory properties than untreated samples
(control) ones. Also, thyme oil at concentration (1%) was more effective than cinnamon and garlic oils.