Cashew gum is an exudate whose exploitation
has social and environmental
benefits for Brazil. In addition to presenting a film-forming ability
similar to that of gum arabic in microencapsulation applications,
cashew gum can provide biological advantages. In this work, cashew
gum was employed to form coacervates with gelatin, and their antimicrobial
action was assessed. Conditions defined for complexation enabled the
encapsulation of thyme essential oil, a natural antimicrobial agent,
with an encapsulation efficiency of 70.9 ± 0.01% and a complexation
yield of 35.1%. Particles and complexes without oil showed antimicrobial
activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The particles
with cashew gum and gelatin protected the volatile compounds in thyme
essential oil, making its biological activity more efficient than
that of free oil alone. The particles without oil did not have equally
high activity against bacteria, but they showed moderate inhibition,
which reinforces the suggestion that combining the antimicrobial activity
of cashew gum and thyme essential oil promotes improved protection.
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