Sustainable Cellulose Nanofibril-Stabilized Pickering Emulsions for Fresh Egg Preservation

Eggs are perishable mainly due to moisture loss and bacterial contamination. Herein, we developed an efficient and sustainable coating emulsion for egg preservation, which is primarily composed of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), coconut oil (CO), cinnamaldehyde, and sophorolipids. The effects of weight ratios of CO to CNFs on emulsion stability and the crucial properties of the resulting coatings were systematically investigated. Under the optimal weight ratio of 1:1, the emulsion demonstrated excellent stability, with a zeta potential of -50.86 mV, and the coating exhibited a low water vapor transmission rate of 18.19 g mm m^-2 day^-1. Moreover, the addition of cinnamaldehyde and sophorolipids enhanced the antibacterial properties of the coating and the wettability of the emulsion on eggshells. After 4 weeks of storage at 25 °C, the eggs coated with the developed emulsion deteriorated from AA to A grade, while those coated with mineral oil and the uncoated eggs deteriorated to B grade. Overall, this work presents a promising, sustainable, easily scalable, and highly efficient technique for fresh egg preservation, which holds great potential for practical applications in the egg storage industry.