Abstract
The design of efficient food contact materials that maintain optimal levels of food safety is of paramount relevance to reduce the increasing number of foodborne illnesses. In this work, we develop a smart composite metal–organic framework (MOF)-based material that fosters a unique prolonged antibacterial activity. The composite is obtained by entrapping a natural food preserving molecule, carvacrol, into a mesoporous MIL-100(Fe) material following a direct and biocompatible impregnation method, and obtaining particularly high payloads. By exploiting the intrinsic redox nature of the MIL-100(Fe) material, it is possible to achieve a prolonged activity against Escherichia coli and Listeria innocua due to a triggered two-step carvacrol release from films containing the carvacrol@MOF composite. Essentially, it was discovered that based on the underlying chemical interaction between MIL-100(Fe) and carvacrol, it is possible to undergo a reversible charge-transfer process between the metallic MOF counterpart and carvacrol upon certain chemical stimuli. During this process, the preferred carvacrol binding site was monitored by infrared, Mössbauer, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopies, and the results are supported by theoretical calculations.
Highlights
Ensuring food quality and safety is a major global challenge in a society severely affected by foodborne diseases
Best carvacrol encapsulation resulted from aqueous-alcoholic mixtures in which carvacrol is poorly soluble and forms a milky emulsion
A maximum loading capacity of 42% was reached after 5 days of immersion, with no further loading occurring up to 10 days (% calculated as the loaded mass of carvacrol per total mass of the dry composite), resulting in an encapsulation efficiency of 58%
Summary
Ensuring food quality and safety is a major global challenge in a society severely affected by foodborne diseases In this context, naturally occurring bioactive compounds (BAC) (e.g., antioxidants, vitamins, polyphenols) are effectively used as food flavoring agents and/or preservatives to inhibit microbial growth.[1] Among them, phenolic compounds have recently attracted attention due to their antioxidant and antitumor activities.[2,3] Despite exhibiting these properties, a desired largescale use of these compounds is hampered by their volatile and insoluble nature, their susceptibility to various environmental and processing conditions, and their characteristic strong aroma. As compared to classical carrier agents like nano- and microemulsions,[16−19] lipid nanoparticles,[20,21] or liposomes,[22,23] MOFs are interesting since provide a Received: November 8, 2021 Accepted: February 9, 2022
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