Stability and antimicrobial activity of lemongrass essential oil in nanoemulsions produced by high-intensity ultrasounds and stabilized by soy lecithin, hydrolyzed whey proteins, gum Arabic, or their ternary admixture

Stability and antimicrobial activity of lemongrass essential oil (LEO) nanoemulsions (NEs) as affected by high-intensity ultrasounds, emulsifier type, and concentration were investigated during 14 days of storage. Soy lecithin (SL), whey protein hydrolysates (WPH), and ternary admixture were the most efficient emulsifiers to decrease the droplet size. WPH emulsions, followed by SL, have shown to be the most oxidatively stable with constant levels of PV and TBARS until the end of storage, even SL emulsions showed high TBARS levels. Unlike WPH and SL emulsions, gum Arabic (GA) and ternary stabilized admixtures were only able to lag TBARS level up to 7 days of storage. GA emulsions were the most effective as antimicrobials against all pathogens tested. Samples were treated with emulsions prepared with GA and WPH, although they were not as efficient in log reduction as the pure oil, the microorganism was not able to recover its survivability after 24 h