Abstract
Natural antimicrobials (NA) have stood out in the last decade due to the growing demand for reducing chemical preservatives in food. Once solubility, stability, and changes in sensory attributes could limit their applications in foods, several studies were published suggesting micro-/nanoencapsulation to overcome such challenges. Thus, for our systematic review the Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, and Pub Med databases were chosen to recover papers published from 2010 to 2020. After reviewing all titles/abstracts and keywords for the full-text papers, key data were extracted and synthesized. The systematic review proposed to compare the antimicrobial efficacy between nanoencapsulated NA (nNA) and its free form in vitro and in situ studies, since although in vitro studies are often used in studies, they present characteristics and properties that are different from those found in foods; providing a comprehensive understanding of primary mechanisms of action of the nNA in foods; and analyzing the effects on quality parameters of foods. Essential oils and nanoemulsions (10.9–100 nm) have received significant attention and showed higher antimicrobial efficacy without sensory impairments compared to free NA. Regarding nNA mechanisms: (i) nanoencapsulation provides a slow-prolonged release to promote antimicrobial action over time, and (ii) prevents interactions with food constituents that in turn impair antimicrobial action. Besides in vitro antifungal and antibacterial, nNA also demonstrated antioxidant activity—potential to shelf life extension in food. However, of the studies involving nanoencapsulated natural antimicrobials used in this review, little attention was placed on proximate composition, sensory, and rheological evaluation. We encourage further in situ studies once data differ from in vitro assay, suggesting food matrix greatly influences NA mechanisms.
Highlights
For many years, one of the concerns of the food industry was microbiological contaminants, which can cause damage to consumers’ health
The systematic review results were presented on the PRISMA flow chart illustrated in Figure 1, and Table 1 shows the list of selected articles in which nanoencapsulated natural antimicrobials (NA) studies were applied to food
We suggest that the low effectiveness of sweet orange essential oils (EO) at pH 7 may be associated with the low solubility of chitosan, used as a wall material to form nanoemulsions [74]
Summary
In Vitro versus In Situ Evaluation, Mechanisms of Action and Implications on Physical-Chemical Quality. Carini Aparecida Lelis 1,2,3,4,5, Anna Paula Azevedo de Carvalho 1,2,3,4,6 and Carlos Adam Conte Junior 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,*. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
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