ABSTRACT
The growing need for more natural products, as well as the demand of consumers to eat fresh, minimally prepared, or ready to eat (RTE) food products, presents an enormous challenge for the food industry, and to meet this demand, new methodologies are developed continuously for the preservation of food. In this context, the use of compounds derived from plants that have preservative properties results in an alternative. Nevertheless, the use of these compounds has the challenge of maintaining the quality and safety of food by also providing functional properties. At the same time, it is necessary to develop new technologies for more processes for the extraction, application, and conservation of bioactive compounds (BCs). This chapter is focused on the present use of plant-derived compounds in the preservation of food, and pays particular attention to the primary agents that cause spoilage and represents a risk for food products.
