Development of functional gelatin-based composite films incorporating oil-in-water lavender essential oil nano-emulsions: Effects on physicochemical properties and cherry tomatoes preservation

Abstract This study presented a facile approach for fabricating oil-in-water lavender essential oil nano-emulsions (LEONs) with excellent antibacterial and antioxidant activities. Besides, LEONs with different LEO content (50, 100, 200 and 300 μL/10 mL) were incorporated to the matrix of gelatin (GL) for preparing multifunctional GL-LEONs films, which exhibited strong antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes, as well as excellent antioxidant activities. Additionally, the GL-LEONs films exhibited sustained release characteristics, excellent UV light barrier performances and good heat-sealing properties. Furthermore, the GL-LEONs films were applied to the preservation of cherry tomatoes at 25 ± 2 °C for 7 days. The results revealed that the deterioration of cherry tomatoes packaged with the GL-LEONs films was suppressed during storage, which mainly reflected in reducing weight loss, delaying the degradation of titratable acids and phenolic components, and inhibiting the growth of microorganisms.