Abstract
One such common chicken meat product consumed and relished throughout the world is sausage. The present paper investigated the effect of basil essential oil and acetic acid when added separately or together in preserving raw chicken sausage during storage at 4°C and -18°C. Also, to determine the effects of basil essential oil and acetic acid on Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium to produce safe and healthy chicken sausage. Beside evaluation of microbiological status, physico chemical tests relevant as chicken sausage quality indicators (pH, total volatile basic nitrogen and thiobarbituric acid), as well as sensory evaluation of the studied samples were performed. Refrigerated and freezing storage studies revealed that pH, TVN and TBA values of control were significantly higher than basil EO and acetic acid treated samples during storage period. Microbial count of basil EO and acetic acid incorporated chicken sausage samples were significantly lower than control and remained well below the permissible limit of fresh chicken meat products. The best effect was at all when adding basil oil 0.3% with acetic acid 2%, where the pH, TVN, TBA and APC values were the lowest on day 15 of storage at 4°C and day 21 of storage at -18°C.
The effective combination of basil EO with acetic acid could appear as an attractive alternative for chicken sausage industry resulted in improving microbial safety and extending the shelf-life during refrigeration (4°C) and freezing storage (-18°C). So, the previously mentioned EO and organic acid can be used for chicken sausage preservation as efficient, safe, and cost-effective preservatives.

Key words: Chicken sausage, basil essential oil, acetic acid, microbial quality