Green preservation: enhancing shelf life of chicken meat using antimicrobial and antioxidant deep eutectic solvent nanoemulsions

Chicken meat is highly perishable during refrigeration due to rapid microbial and oxidative spoilage. This study investigates the development and application of hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (HDESs) and their nanoemulsions as coatings for chicken meat to enhance shelf-life. HDESs were synthesized using lactic acid (LA), acetic acid (AA), and decanoic acid (DA) as hydrogen bond donors and menthol (M) as a hydrogen bond acceptor. Physicochemical properties revealing that LA:M exhibited the highest viscosity and surface tnsion. FTIR analysis confirmed strong hydrogen bonding in HDES formulations. HDESs Nanoemulsions demonstrated droplet sizes between 7.15 and 63.75 nm. AA:M-coated samples exhibited the lowest pH, reducing TVBN levels by 31.49 % compared to the control after 7 days storage. AA:M and DA:M nanoemulsions reduced TBARs by 26.59 % and 37.23 %, respectively, compared to the control. The AA:M nanoemulsion had the lowest MIC and MBC and AA:M coated samples showed the lowest bacterial and fungal counts.