Enhancing smoked meat (Se’i sapi) quality: The impact of adding essential oils of cinnamon and lime leaf during room temperature storage

Objective: This study examines the effects of lime leaf and cinnamon essential oils (EOs) at different concentrations and storage durations on the quality of Se’i under ambient conditions. Materials and Methods: We used a two-factor completely randomized design with three replications. The first factor involved EO concentrations of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5, while the second factor was storage duration at 0, 7, 14, and 21 days. Key parameters evaluated included pH, tenderness, thiobarbituric acid values, meat color, and sensory analysis. Results: The results indicated that adding EOs effectively preserved the smoked meat, with improved quality parameters compared to the control group. Conclusion: Adding 0.5 lime leaf or cinnamon essential oil to Se'i made it taste and look much better, showing that it could be used as a natural way to keep smoked meats fresh. © The authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0)