Edible Polymers for Essential Oils Encapsulation: Application in Food Preservation

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, every year 2 billion people worldwide get sick because of unsafe food. For this reason, food preservation from fungi, bacteria and other contaminants, is important to ensure the safety and quality of food to the consumers. Now a day, there is an increasing demand for natural preservatives which are safe in the food industry. Among these natural compounds with antimicrobial activity, essential oils have aroused 2 considerable interest in the food industry. Unfortunately, essential oils have numerous limitations in their use, mainly due to their hydrophobic property, which need to be encapsulated before use. The main goal of this specific review is to focus on the encapsulation of essential oils using edible polymers.

Encapsulation of Essential Oils via Nanoprecipitation Process: Overview, Progress, Challenges and Prospects

“…For instance, they act as carriers enabling to EO a high protection against the hazardous environment, an improved stability, a reduced tissue and skin irritation and enhanced biopharmaceutical properties [23]. The use of these nanocarriers in several fields is continuously rising [62][63][64]. as approach to enhance their bioavailability and bioefficacy as a result of high cellular uptake and controlled release delivery [5,23,24] According to the literature, polymer-based nanocarriers are extensively used for this purpose [55][56][57][58][59][60].…”

“…For instance, they act as carriers enabling to EO a high protection against the hazardous environment, an improved stability, a reduced tissue and skin irritation and enhanced biopharmaceutical properties [23]. The use of these nanocarriers in several fields is continuously rising [62][63][64].…”

High Voltage Electrical Discharges as an Alternative Extraction Process of Phenolic and Volatile Compounds from Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.): In Silico and Experimental Approaches for Solubility Assessment

“…Obtained plant extracts could be used for functional food production, but also in other spheres of food industry, as colorants, preservatives and other different kind of additives [ 22 , 23 ]. Furthermore, plant extracts could be further preserved by encapsulation methods for controlled release of BACs [ 24 ] in food industry [ 25 ], but in other industries as well, such as cosmetics [ 26 ] or agriculture [ 27 ], and in various fields of pharmaceutical industry and medicine due to plants’ natural biological properties [ 28 , 29 ].…”

pH‐sensitive polymers: Classification and some fine potential applications

“…Apart from their functionalities, the attractivity of these systems resides in their nontoxicity for consumers. This paves the way toward edible PRP development with antimicrobial and antioxidant activities and to functional foods with pH‐responsive property 287 …”