Rosemary Essential Oil as a Natural Additive in Food Industry: Recent Developments in Encapsulation Techniques

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Natural Products Chemistry
• Material Science

Background:

• Rosemary essential oil (REO) possesses antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, making it a potential natural food additive.
• Challenges like volatility, low water solubility, and intense aroma limit REO's direct use in food.
• Encapsulation is a key strategy to overcome these limitations, improving stability and enabling controlled release.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically review conventional and advanced REO encapsulation techniques.
• To evaluate these techniques based on advantages, limitations, and wall material selection.
• To summarize current applications and identify research gaps in REO encapsulation for food products.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of various REO encapsulation methods.
• Evaluation of wall materials and their impact on release behavior.
• Review of literature on REO applications in food preservation, functional ingredients, and active packaging.

Main Results:

• Encapsulation enhances REO stability, bioactivity, and controlled release, while mitigating sensory impact.
• Wall material selection is crucial for tailoring release profiles and functional performance in food matrices.
• Current applications include food preservation and active packaging, but characterization of encapsulated REO needs improvement.

Conclusions:

• Encapsulation is vital for utilizing REO's benefits in food products.
• Further research on post-encapsulation chemical characterization, especially minor volatile organic compounds (VOCs), is needed.
• Addressing these gaps will facilitate the development of effective encapsulation systems for clean-label food products.