Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) are broadly cultivated in the Mediterranean but their environmental footprint is not very well studied. In this paper, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to determine the energy balance, carbon and water footprints (CF and WF, respectively) in 50 farms, organic and conventional, where four MAP species were cultivated; spearmint (Mentha spicata), oregano (Oreganum vulgare), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and Damask rose (Rosa damascena). The lowest value for energy intensity (EI) was observed for organic spearmint (0.18 MJ/kg fresh weight; f.w.) while the highest for conventional Damask rose (5.80 MJ/kg f.w.). Statistically significant differences were observed in EI between organic and conventional farms for spearmint and Damask rose while no differences were found for oregano and rosemary. The lowest CF was observed for organic rosemary (0.051 kg CO₂-eq/kg f.w.) while the highest for conventional Damask rose (0.463 kg CO₂-eq/kg f.w.). Statistical differences in the CF between organic and conventional farms for the four species followed the same pattern as for EI. Conventional spearmint had the lowest WF (61.5 L of water/kg f.w.) and organic Damask rose the highest (1522 L of water/kg f.w.). Statistical differences between the two management systems were observed only for Damask rose. The 50 farms were grouped according to the values of three indicators (EI, CF and WF) using cluster analysis. Four clusters were identified with 68% of the farms (34) belonging to the low footprint cluster which contained organic and conventional spearmint, oregano and rosemary farms. The other three clusters contained the (16) Damask rose farms, where the inputs were higher in comparison to the other three species and the highest footprint clusters contained conventional rose farms. Our work suggests that MAPs are viable candidates for the implementation of sustainable agriculture in the Mediterranean.

The present work aimed to determine the bioactive compounds in two rosemary water extracts (RWE1 and RWE2) and to assess their antimicrobial, anti‐adhesive and antibiofilm potentials against the food‐related Bacillus and Pseudomonas species at concentrations; 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 mg mL⁻¹. Phenolic compounds and isoflavones in the RWEs were determined using HPLC. The concentrations of most bioactive compounds of RWE1 (benzoic, ellagic, gallic and rosmarinic acids, daidzein and genistein) were higher than that of RWE2. The MIC₉₀of RWE1 and RWE2 against all tested bacteria was 12 and 16 mg mL⁻¹, respectively. The anti‐adhesive and antibiofilm doses were higher than MIC₉₀. RWE1 and RWE2 showed potential reduction in the bacterial cell adhesion to HEp‐2 cells – 17.5–64.7 and 12.2–52.9%, respectively. In conclusion, this study emphasises the effective use of RWE as a natural anti‐adhesive and antibiofilm agent against Bacillus and Pseudomonas, without difficult extraction procedure.