Synergistic Antioxidant and Antibacterial Advantages of Essential Oils for Food Packaging Applications

Abstract

The development of food-borne and infectious diseases has increased globally at an anomalous rate and is combined with emerging social and economic problems. This highlights the need for new and improved antibacterial agents with novel and different mechanisms of action at regular intervals. Some chemical or artificial food additives are considered harmful if they are used beyond their permissible levels. Today, consumers are demanding alternative, green, safer, and natural food additives to increase the shelf life of food. Essential oils (EOs) are concentrated liquid mixtures of volatile compounds with antioxidant and antibacterial properties that can be used as natural, eco-friendly, renewable, and cost-effective additives. The use of combinations of different EOs and their components is a promising strategy to increase the synergistic and additive effects of EOs in foods. In this article, we review the recent literature on EOs concerning the chemical constituents, extraction methods, antioxidant and antibacterial activities, and their mechanisms of action. Additionally, we discuss the synergistic interaction of different EOs and their components, challenges, and future directions of EOs as natural food preservatives, with special emphasis on shelf life extension and applications in the packaging of food products.

Synergistic effects of carvacrol, α-terpinene, γ-terpinene, ρ-cymene and linalool against Gardnerella species

“…It has been previously shown that the combined effect of some individual compounds can enhance their antimicrobial activities 47 , 48 . Taking into consideration the MIC determinations, we assessed possible synergism between the individual components tested.…”

Chemical profiling of Punica granatum peels from Jordan using LC–MS/MS and study on their biological activities

“…A total of 19 phenolic acids and flavonoids were detected in the crude ethanol peel extract of P. granatum including six hydroxybenzoic acids such as syringic acid, vanillic acid, ellagic acid, gallic acid, p‐hydroxybenzoic acid and corilagin; six hydroxycinnamic acids such as chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, sinapic acid, p‐coumaric acid, ferulic acid and cinnamic acid; and seven flavonoids compounds such as apigenin, quercetin, pelargonidin, cyanidin, catechin, epicatechin and anthocyanins. Phenolics naturally occur in a wide range of species throughout the plant kingdom and are recognised as good medicines, exhibiting a broad spectrum of antioxidant, antibacterial, anti‐inflammatory, antidiabetic, anticancer, antithrombotic anti‐ischaemic and antitumour activities (Khadem & Marles, 2010; Grzesik et al., 2018; Gupta et al., 2019; Salehi et al., 2019; Alfei et al., 2020; Li et al., 2020; Ruwizhi & Aderibigbe, 2020; Salau et al., 2020; Shim et al., 2020; Tena et al., 2020; Vo et al., 2020; Basavegowda & Baek, 2021; Ingole et al., 2021; Jug et al., 2021; Nguyen et al., 2021). They also have a vital role as a natural preservative in most common foods, cosmetics and medicines (de Paulo Farias et al., 2020).…”

Controlled Release of Volatile Antimicrobial Compounds from Mesoporous Silica Nanocarriers for Active Food Packaging Applications

“…Natural additives are found in a wide variety of plants, and novel preservation methods are explored using these natural antimicrobials [1]. Essential oils are secondary metabolites from plants, composed of a mixture of volatile compounds, which have been widely studied for their antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antifungal properties [2][3][4][5]. The antimicrobial activity of essential oils is attributed to several mechanisms, mainly membrane disruption which increases permeability and subsequently impairs important cell functions [6,7].…”