Tehran University of Medical Sciences Journal of Food Safety and Hygiene 2476-3241 7 1 2021 11 23 11 26 Jazia Sriti Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Centre of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria, Hammam-Lif, Tunisia Mouna Boulares Research unit, Bio-Preservation and Valorization of Agricultural Products, Higher Institute of Food Industries of Tunisia, El Khadhra City, Tunisia. Youkabed Zarroug Field Crops Laboratory, National Agronomic Research Institute of Tunisia, University of Carthage, Ariana, Rym Essid 1Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Centre of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria, Hammam-Lif, Tunisia. a 2021 09 05 2021 11 14 The inhibitory effects of essential oil (EO) on bacteria development give them an important role in the fields of the food industry as an additive in food packaging. This study was aimed to identify the effect of Lavandula stoechas EO at different concentrations on chicken fillets quality during refrigerated storage. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities showed that EO extracted has an important antibacterial activity and antiradical potential. In chicken fillets, the lavender EO (100 and 200 ppm) reduced their oxidation and microbial proliferation during refrigerated storage and with no cytotoxicity effect towards murine macrophage cells. During the storage period, the values of pH, dry matter, acidity and cooking loss of treated fillets were lower than that of the control. The statistical analyses proved greatly significant variations of color between the control and the treated by LEO, during storage. The sensory analysis selected an improvement effect in the organoleptic quality of the chicken meat when it was supplemented by 100 ppm of LEO. The statistical analysis of the microbiological characteristics clearly discriminated the control and those treated with LEO (p<0.05). The effectiveness of LEO was proved by its incorporation as a natural food preservative and the improvement of the shelf life of poultry meat products by about 3 days. https://jfsh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfsh/article/view/324 https://jfsh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfsh/article/download/324/161