Traditional local beer “dolo” sold in marketplaces in Burkina Faso are often assumed to be safe. This study investigated the conservation and quality of “dolo” using essential oils extracted from five plants. Twenty five samples of “dolo” were collected from traditional producers in different areas of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). The chemical composition of the essential oils from the barks of Boswellia papyrifera, the flowers of Jasminum sambac, leaves of Pandanus odoratissimus and Matricaria chamomilla obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzed using GC–MS. The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from Boswellia sacra was composed of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (57.60%) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (20.02%). The major compounds were incensole acetate (43.76%), isoincensole plus isoincensole acetate (18.42%) and incensole (5.48%) for B. papyrifera. The essential oil obtained from Matricaria chamomilla contained 95.21% of oxygenated monoterpenes and 89.98% of piperitone. Ten components, representing 94.93% of the total essential oil from the leaves of Pandanus odoratissimus, were found. The ability of the essential oils to preserve and stabilize “dolo” samples was revealed by μmax of bacteria strains tested. Among the plants tested B. sacra presented the more capacity of inhibition on the strains with μmax value as 0.0041±0.00038, 0.0061±0.00011, 0.0099±0.00073, 0.0176±0.0011, 0.0160±0.0010 respectively on E. coli, S. typhi, S. Nigeria, Y. enterocolitica, L. monocytogenes. The low values of μmax showed the potential of essential oils to inhibit the microorganisms found in the “dolo” beer and to preserve drink, keeping it safe. The essential oils used, did not change organoleptic and nourishing quality of “dolo”

Sorghum beer, microorganisms, plants, essential oils