en تخصصي Special Original article Original article <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Background</strong>: Citrus fruits have some antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical compounds, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of Essential Oil (EO) of lemon (<em>Citrus limon</em>) peel <em>in vitro</em> and in a food model.<br> <strong>Methods</strong>: The analysis of the lemon peel EO was carried out using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Total phenolic and flavonoid content was determined using standard protocols. The antioxidant activity of the EO was also evaluated using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. Antimicrobial properties of the EO were assessed against <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em> using the broth microdilution method. Also, barely soup was chosen as food model. Data were analyzed using SPSS Inc. software version 22.0.<br> <strong>Results</strong>: The total phenol content was 81.82&plusmn;8.02 mg gallic acid equivalent/g of the EO. Also, the total amount of flavonoids in the EO of lemon peel was 11.72&plusmn;1.82 mg/g rutin equivalent. Lemon peel EO showed 55.09% inhibition of DPPH, showing significant difference with </span><span style="font-family:times new roman;">control</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> group (<em>p</em><0.05). The MIC and MBC value of EO against <em>S. aureus </em></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;">was</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> 1.25 and 5%, respectively having </span><span style="font-family:times new roman;">significant</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> difference (<em>p</em><0.05) with </span><span style="font-family:times new roman;">control</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> group. A dose-dependent manner was seen in food model revealed significantly lower (<em>p</em><0.05) bacterial number in EO containing barley soup groups than the control one.<br> <strong>Conclusion</strong>: The EO of lemon peel showed considerable antioxidant and antimicrobial properties both <em>in vitro</em> and barley soup as food model.</span></p> Citrus, Oils, Volatile, Antioxidants, Staphylococcus aureus 42 48 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-242-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 M.H. Moosavy mhmoosavy@gmail.com Yes Department of Food Hygiene and Aquatic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran P. Hassanzadeh No Department of Food Hygiene and Aquatic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran E. Mohammadzadeh No Department of Food Hygiene and Aquatic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran R. Mahmoudi No Department of Food Hygiene and Aquatic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran S.A. Khatibi No Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran K. Mardani No Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran