Microcapsules Containing Lippia origanoides Kunth Essential Oil as a Natural Alternative to Control Food Spoilage Pathogens: A Preliminary Study

This research presents a preliminary study on the volatile retention and antimicrobial potential of microencapsulated Lippia origanoides essential oil (LoEO), aiming to analyze the viability of the process in terms of maintaining its main volatile constituents and its effectiveness against food‐contaminating bacteria. Microcapsules were obtained by drying in a spray dryer using a mixture of gum arabic (GA) and maltodextrin (MD) as the raw materials for the wall (3:3.6 m/m). The resulting powder was characterized by its morphology, encapsulation efficiency, retention of volatile constituents, and antimicrobial potential. The morphological analysis was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC‐FID) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The antimicrobial potential was evaluated using the broth microdilution method. The microcapsules exhibited a wrinkled external morphology without apparent cracks, indicating protection and retention of the core. The encapsulation efficiency was 78%. Chromatographic analysis revealed that the process provided a relative increase in the main constituents (carvacrol and p ‐methoxycarvacrol), resulting in an improvement of the oil’s antimicrobial potential. However, due to the exploratory nature of this work, these conclusions should be interpreted as indicative, serving as a foundation for future scale‐up and shelf‐life studies in food matrices.