Synergism of essential oils with lipid based nanocarriers: emerging trends in preservation of grains and related food products

Abstract

Grains are one of the major food staples in the world. The cereal grains are easily susceptible to damage by moisture content, flour beetles and food pathogens during storage, harvesting and post harvesting. Food preservative techniques namely drying, freezing, and dehydration, acquire little advantages. However, they cause few undesirable alterations in the organoleptic and nutritional properties of the preserved food items. Therefore, there is a continuous search for new preservation techniques in food industries, to satisfy the customer demands on the addition of natural food preservatives, devoid of pathogenic contaminants and without changes in organoleptic properties. Essential oils (EOs) have been predicted as “natural food additives” in the preservative process. The synergistic potential of EOs with various nanocarriers plays an emerging role in the food industry. Therefore, the present review has focused on the lipid based nanocarriers, and the methods used for the functionalization or encapsulation of EOs and applications in the preservation of food items such as cooked rice, rice flour, grains, sliced breads have also been discussed. The present review ascertains the antimicrobial significance of active EOs loaded lipid nanocarriers in the form of nano emulsions, solid lipid nanoparticles and liposomes for preserving grains and flours. Keywords: Antimicrobial, Essential oil, Food pathogens, Grains, Nanocarriers