Encapsulation of Essential Oils and Their Use in Food Applications

Abstract

Due to the modern lifestyle and consumers’ interests, demands toward healthy foods and nutraceuticals were increased, among them essential oils (EOs) characterized by different biological activities. However, the use of EOs in foods and pharmaceuticals may be limited due to the hydrophobicity nature in addition to the instability and cause of degradation upon exposure to environmental conditions, e.g., oxygen, temperature, and light. Therefore, encapsulation in various colloidal systems such as microcapsules, nanospheres, nanoemulsions, liposomes, and molecular inclusion complexes, seem to be the solution for such issues. New trends in food packaging have also been focused on exploiting capsulated bioactive EOs constituents for extending foods’ shelf life due to their potent antimicrobial agents and the great activity against pathological bacteria. Micro and nanoencapsulation of EOs may affect their biological activities based on the technique used. In the current chapter, different subjects have been discussed, like techniques used for the encapsulation of EOs, potential applications in food, and their behaviors/trends after encapsulation.