Encyclopedia
Please note this is a comparison between Version 1 by MICAELA GUIDOTTI TAKEUCHI and Version 3 by Lindsay Dong.
The use of essential oils (EO) loaded with nanoparticles is the most promising alternative to increase food quality and safety. Their association with different nanosystems allows novel developments in the micronutrition, health promotion, and pathogen control fields, preventing the aggravation of bacterial microevolution and combating antibiotic resistance. Benefits to the environment are also provided, as they are biodegradable and biocompatible.
- food science
- nanotechnology
- essential oils
1. Introduction
The EOs are plant-derived compounds with complex aromatic structures and high volatility. The volatilomes [1][11] are presented as the total fraction of strong-smelling molecules produced in specialized plant cells (oil cells, ducts, or glands) [2][12]. They are secondary plant metabolites, which play essential roles in the dynamics of plants with their habitat through protection against pathogens and attraction of polarizers [3][13]. They can be extracted from all parts of plants (from leaves to roots) by using different methodologies. The presence, yield, and chemotype of EOs are influenced by many climatic and plant nutritional factors, as well as stress conditions. For commercial EO production (where increases in the yield are desirable), breeding and selection programs are implemented as a measure to foster specific compositions [4][14]. The structural profiles of commercial EOs have been previously provided by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis [5][6][7][8,15,16]. In general, their molecular structure reveals two or three major compounds, corresponding to more than 20% of the full molecule, usually responsible for their biological properties [8][9][10][17,18,19].
However, EOs show a set of undesirable physiochemical properties that prevent their widespread use. They are highly volatile, light-sensitive [11][26], can produce off-flavors, modify the color of food products [12][27], interfere with food texture, and have lower bioavailability [13][28]. In this sense, some nanotechnological approaches are currently applied to overcome these disadvantages without affecting the therapeutic properties. The nanoencapsulation of EOs by different nanocarriers (Figure 1), mainly those with affinity for hydrophobic molecules such as liposomes, nanoemulsions, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC), polymer nanocapsules, cyclodextrins, and chitosan-based system (CHT), among others, is a promising alternative for advances in the preservation and microbial control (Table 1) of food products [14][15][16][29,30,31]. Moreover, the different nanocarriers designed for food applications have to be biocompatible, biodegradable, scaled up, and classified as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) [13][28], which requires technical evidence of safety [17][32].
Figure 1. Illustrative chart regarding the use and advantages of different organic nanoparticles loading essential oils (EOs) throughout the food production process. EO: essential oil; SLN: solid lipid nanoparticle; NLC: nanostructured lipid carriers.
2. Production Chain in the Food Industry (FI)
All steps of the food production and processing system (farm to fork) are prone to microbial contamination, with direct consequences to the final consumer, causing different foodborne diseases. Therefore, FIs have a huge challenge in searching new strategies for pathogen control. The misuse of antimicrobials has resulted in a selection of bacteria that are more tolerant and resistant to chemical agents, causing risks to human health, due to ineffective therapeutic efforts [18][33]. In addition, consumers are concerned about the adverse effects of synthetic components used in food [19][34]. Regulatory issues related to banning the use of these compounds in animal production [20][35] are in line with the trend towards consuming foods treated with safe and natural antimicrobials [21][36].
Antimicrobial resistance has been known since the discovery of antibiotics. The continuous and rapid evolution of microorganisms overcome the effect of antimicrobial agents. Therefore, the drug resistance is a major concern, as human and animal health, food production, and environment are interconnected [22][37]. Compared to traditional antimicrobial drugs, EO can reach different microbial targets [23][38], such as binding bacterial proteins and lowering pH [24][39] that improve the therapeutic effect against multidrug-resistant bacteria present in food [25][40], such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Campylobacter jejuni, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp., Shigella sp., Enterococcus sp., and Escherichia coli [26][41], and can be used from animal production to the finished product.
Food-grade nanoparticulate products are already available on the market and include nano-additives and nano-ingredients made from ω-3 fatty acids, incorporated into yogurts [27][42] and fruit juices [28][43]. They have the function of not only enriching the product, but also promoting the sensory acceptability of fish oil [29][44]. Other products developed by Aquanova® include nanoemulsions loading vitamins. Other nanoencapsulated vitamins (Lypo-Spheric Vitamin, Livon Laboratories, Inc. Company Profile, Henderson, NV, USA) manufactured by LivOn Labs offer protection against their degradation in the gastrointestinal system, increasing the bioavailability [30][45]. There are also some reports related to the NP application for sensory enhancements, to inhibit flavor loss (infused pure cocoa nanoclusters, RBC Life Sciences ® Inc, Irving, TX, USA) [31][46], incorporate natural colorants (β-carotene, curcumin; NutraLease ®, Ma’ale Adumim, Israel) [32][47], and offer nanotechnological advantages, such as Nestlé® patented water-in-oil emulsion (10–500 nm), to facilitate microwave thawing of frozen products [33][48]. The possibilities of applications are wide, including expressive fat reduction (from 16% to 1%) in ice cream production (Unilever ®, London, UK) [34][49] and incorporation of antimicrobial compounds [34][49] in packaging, and in decontamination of industrial equipment [32][47], demonstrating the diversity of application in food matrices and a dynamic approach to food and feed quality assurance [18][33].
