Nanoencapsulation of Essential Oils as Natural Food Antimicrobial Agents: An Overview

Abstract

The global demand for safe and healthy food with minimal synthetic preservatives is continuously increasing. Natural food antimicrobials and especially essential oils (EOs) possess strong antimicrobial activities that could play a remarkable role as a novel source of food preservatives. Despite the excellent efficacy of EOs, they have not been widely used in the food industry due to some major intrinsic barriers, such as low water solubility, bioavailability, volatility, and stability in food systems. Recent advances in nanotechnology have the potential to address these existing barriers in order to use EOs as preservatives in food systems at low doses. Thus, in this review, we explored the latest advances of using natural actives as antimicrobial agents and the different strategies for nanoencapsulation used for this purpose. The state of the art concerning the antibacterial properties of EOs will be summarized, and the main latest applications of nanoencapsulated antimicrobial agents in food systems will be presented. This review should help researchers to better choose the most suitable encapsulation techniques and materials.

Nanoencapsulation of Mandarin Essential Oil: Fabrication, Characterization, and Storage Stability

“…This strategy also protects bioactive composites from heat, pressure, oxygen, or light [ 9 , 10 ]. Nanoencapsulation is defined as the use of a carrier with a diameter of less than 1 micron (1000 nm) and has characteristics distinct from conventional encapsulation [ 11 ].…”

Use of essential oils and phytochemicals against the mycotoxins producing fungi for shelf‐life enhancement and food preservation

“…SLN systems have the potential to reduce EO volatility and instability considerably. The two main techniques used in the large‐scale production of SLNs are thermal homogenization and cold homogenization (Liao et al ., 2021).…”

“…Electrospinning and electrospray are two electrohydrodynamic procedures that use charged jets to rotate or spray a polymer solution to produce fibres (electro spinning) or particles (electro spraying) with benefits like adaptable size with increased surface area, ability to carry heat‐sensitive compounds and increased production (Muñoz‐Shugulí et al ., 2020; Liao et al ., 2021). The absence of heat is critical for preserving the original characteristics of heat‐sensitive flavour compounds such as EOs, hence enhancing their stability, bioavailability and use for industrial‐scale food science applications (Ribeiro‐Santos et al ., 2017).…”

Encapsulated Clove Bud Essential Oil: A New Perspective as an Eco-Friendly Biopesticide

“…To overcome these problems, different techniques that can provide their physical stability, protection from evaporation, and water solubility are required. Encapsulation of EOs in appropriate carriers is the most promising technique where the bioactive substance is entrapped, surrounded by a carrier matrix, which allows one to control the rate of bioactive release [3,10,[24][25][26]. Polymer coating tends to increase oil stability and efficiency by prolonging the release rate of active components [3,10,24,[27][28][29][30].…”