纳米乳液提升植物精油的抗菌性能及其在食品表面的消毒作用研究进展

食品及其加工设备和环境中的腐败菌和致病菌污染是影响食品质量安全的重要因素, 高效防控这些有害微生物在食品工业中具有重大需求。植物精油不仅具有快速杀菌的作用, 而且不易引发有害微生物对食品加工理化因子产生抗性。然而, 植物精油具有亲脂性和易挥发性等缺点, 限制了其在食品消毒领域的应用。纳米乳液技术可以将植物精油包埋在食品级表面活性剂中, 形成稳定性良好的分散体系, 从而较好地克服植物精油在食品工业中应用的瓶颈问题。因此, 本文综述了植物精油纳米乳液的制备方法、纳米乳液提升植物精油体外和体内抗菌活性的效果、纳米乳液在食品表面的抗菌膜作用, 以期为植物精油纳米乳液用于促进食品质量安全提供不可或缺的依据。

Recent advances in antibacterial activity of essential oils enhanced by nanoemulsions and their application in food surface disinfection

Contamination of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms on food surfaces, food processing equipment and environment is an important factor affecting food quality and safety. Therefore, effective control of these harmful microorganisms is in great demand in food industries. It has been demonstrated that plant essential oils (PEOs) not only have a rapid bactericidal effect, but also are not easy to induce microbial resistance to food processing and storage-related stresses. However, the lipophilic and volatile properties of PEOs limit their applications in disinfection of food products. Nanoemulsion technology emerges as a potential technique to entrap PEOs in the food grade surfactants with enhanced diffusion to target food systems, which contributes to solving the bottleneck problems limiting the food application of PEOs. This review summarized the development methods and the improvements in antibacterial activities of PEO nanoemulsions in vitro and in vivo, furthermore, discussed their applications in food surface disinfection as an antibiofilm agent, so as to provide a theoretical basis for promoting the utilization of PEO nanoemulsions in food quality and safety assurance.