Bioactivity of essential oils: a review on their interaction with food components

Essentialoils(EOs)areliquidpreparations,producedfromplantmaterials.AlthoughEOsshowedapromisingbioactivityinvitro,theycouldinteractinfoodswithsomecomponents(fats,proteins,carbohydrates)andpH,thusmanyauthorshavereportedthatasignificanteffectofEOstowardspoilingandpathogenicmicroorganismscouldbeachievedinvivobyusinghigheramountsofoils.DifferentmethodscanbeusedtoassessthebioactivityofEOs(diskdiffusionandagarorbrothdilutionmethods);however,thereisnotastandardizedtestandresearchersproposeandusedifferentprotocols(evaluatingtheMinimalInhibitoryConcentration,studyingthesurvivalcurves,analysisthroughthescanningelectronmicroscopy,etc.).Thereafter,thescopeofthisreviewisafocusoninteractionsofEOswithproteins,carbohydrates,oils,NaCl,andpH,aswellasabriefdescriptiononthedifferentprotocolstoassesstheirbioactivitybothunderinvivoandinvitroconditions.