Nanoemulsion-Based Technologies for Delivering Natural Plant-Based Antimicrobials in Foods

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the use of natural preservatives (rather than synthetic ones) for maintaining the quality and safety of foods due to their perceived environmental and health benefits. In particular, plant-based antimicrobials are being employed to protect against microbial spoilage, thereby improving food safety, quality, and shelf-life. However, many natural antimicrobials cannot be utilized in their free form due to their chemical instability, poor dispersibility in food matrices, or unacceptable flavor profiles. For these reasons, encapsulation technologies, such as nanoemulsions, are being developed to overcome these hurdles. Indeed, encapsulation of plant-based preservatives can improve their handling and ease of use, as well as enhance their potency. This review highlights the various kinds of plant-based preservatives that are available for use in food applications. It then describes the methods available for forming nanoemulsions and shows how they can be used to encapsulate and deliver plant-based preservatives. Finally, potential applications of nano-emulsified plant-based preservatives for improving food quality and safety are demonstrated in the meat, fish, dairy, and fresh produce areas.

Edible Mushrooms as Functional Ingredients for Development of Healthier and More Sustainable Muscle Foods: A Flexitarian Approach

“…As a result of these concerns, the food industry is reformulating existing products and creating new products to make them healthier and more sustainable [ 7 , 8 ]. In this article, we focus on the creation of foods designed for the flexitarian market.…”

Encapsulation of Bioactive Phytochemicals in Plant-Based Matrices and Application as Additives in Meat and Meat Products

“…This change in emphasis has been driven by growing consumer demands for a more ethical, healthy, and environmentally-friendly food supply to feed the expanding global population [ 1 , 2 ]. Scientists are therefore utilizing plant-derived constituents, such as proteins, polysaccharides, phospholipids, and lipids, to construct new materials for use in the food industry, including foods, beverages, packaging materials, coatings, and delivery systems [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. In this article, we focus on the design, fabrication, and utilization of plant-based delivery systems for bioactive food ingredients, such as nutraceuticals, preservatives, colors, and flavors.…”

“…However, many plant-based bioactive agents cannot simply be applied to agricultural crops or incorporated into food products or packaging materials because of their poor solubility, their low chemical stability, or their adverse impacts on food quality (such as appearance, texture, or flavor). Consequently, it is important to encapsulate these components within colloidal particles that are specially designed to improve their water dispersibility, chemical stability, and matrix compatibility [ 4 , 5 ]. Moreover, encapsulation of these phytochemicals can improve food quality by masking off odors and flavors [ 12 , 13 ], while increasing their shelf-life.…”

Essential Oil Nanoemulsion as Eco-Friendly and Safe Preservative: Bioefficacy Against Microbial Food Deterioration and Toxin Secretion, Mode of Action, and Future Opportunities

“…Among them, nanoemulsion has been considered as more effective ( Anwer et al, 2014 ) and widely used nanometric systems due to at least one dimension less than 100 nm ( Hasan et al, 2020 ; Amiri et al, 2021 ). Consequently, nanoencapsulation has some remarkable advantages over other encapsulation systems for certain applications such as improved stability of encapsulated active compounds, large surface area to volume ratio, higher bioavailability, mass transfer behavior ( Zhang et al, 2021 ), enhanced bioactivity ( Donsì and Ferrari, 2016 ), and better diffusion to target food systems ( McClements et al, 2021 ). Recently, extensive investigations have been performed on the EOs encapsulation and their potential application in the food industry ( Dwivedy et al, 2018 ; Pabast et al, 2018 ; Aswathanarayan and Vittal, 2019 ; Zhu et al, 2020 ; Chaudhari et al, 2021a ).…”