Cashew Nut Shell Liquid as Natural Antimicrobial Preservative for Beef: Characterization, Formulation, Efficacy and Application

Abstract

Food spoilage caused by microbial contamination has remained a major challenge in meat preservation, especially in regions with limited refrigeration infrastructure. The potential of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) as a natural antimicrobial preservative for beef, which is culturally significant and a highly consumed meat product worldwide, was investigated. The CNSL was extracted using ethanol and characterized by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Results revealed a high abundance of phenolic lipids, cresols, cardanol and resorcinol derivatives, with active O-H and C-O functional groups. The antimicrobial efficacy against Pseudomonas, Clostridium spp. and Proteus spp., which are major bacteria implicated in meat spoilage, was assayed by applying different concentrations (0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0%) of CNSL to the meat samples and evaluating microbial loads over a 14-day storage period. Results indicate a significant reduction in total viable counts and pathogenic bacteria, with optimal preservation observed at 2.0% CNSL. The study demonstrates that CNSL exhibits potential to act as an effective natural preservative and sets the foundation for its application in sustainable meat preservation strategies.

Keywords

Beef / Cashew nut shell liquid / Food preservative / FTIR / GC-MS

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the support of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the TETFund-FARA Postdoctoral Program. The authors also appreciate the Laboratory of Thermodynamics and Supercritical Technology (LATESC), UFSC, in Florianopolis, Brazil, for providing facilities for some of the experiments.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, [E.I., M.L., S.U.]; Methodology, [E.I., M.L., S.U., M.O.]; Validation, [E.I., M.L., S.U., S.F., J.L.]; Formal analysis, [E.I., M.L., S.U., M.O., O.O., T.A., C.O., T.O., R.G.]; Investigation, [E.I., M.L., S.U., M.O., O.O., T.A., C.O., T.O., R.G.]; Resources, [M.L., J.L., S.F., E.I.]; Data curation, [E.I., S.U., M.O., O.O., T.A., C.O., T.O., R.G.]; Writing—original draft preparation, [E.I., S.U.]; Writing—review and editing, [E.I., M.O., O.O., T.A., C.O., T.O., R.G.]; Visualization, [E.I., S.U.]; Supervision, [M.L., J.L., S.F., E.I., S.U.]; Project administration, [E.I., M.L., S.U., J.L.]; Funding acquisition, [M.L., E.I.]. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Funding

This work received no funding.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that there are no competing interests.

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