Impact of particle structure on the storage stability and release kinetics of essential oil encapsulated in shellac particle for high-barrier paper coatings for food packaging applications.

Abstract

Essential oil (EO) as an active component is a novel way to ensure food safety in packaging. Nevertheless, consistently retaining EO during package storage (SR) and release kinetics (RK) poses a major challenge. In this study, isotropic shellac: EO particles monophasic, biphasic (Bf), and core-shell were fabricated by loading EO into shellac-based electrosprayed microparticles. The particles were coated on paper, and SR (14 days at 40 °C), loading efficiency (LE), and RK were found to be 77.7 %, 86.3 %, and 76.5 %, respectively. Furthermore, by storing strawberries (SB) and shrimp for 28 days, coated paper was tested for its ability to preserve food and found Bf 30 (shellac 40 %w/v)/EO: shellac 4:6(v/w)). The coated paper significantly reduced moisture loss (85.4 % for SB and 58.8 % for shrimp), slowed down the growth of fungus and redness (100 % and 400 %, respectively), and kept the SB and shrimp fresher for 300 % and 100 %, respectively, compared to uncoated paper. Additionally, the biological studies indicated that the material exhibited a > 10 mm inhibitory zone, as well as robust radical scavenging. The packaging films' sustainability was validated by a soil burial and water immersion degradation test, which revealed that they disintegrated 200 % faster than uncoated paper and had potential applicability in sustainable food packaging.