Novel active food packaging based on centrifugally spun nanofibers containing lavender essential oil: Rapid fabrication, characterization, and application to preserve of minced lamb meat

This study aimed to develop novel nano fibers loaded with lavender essential oil (LEO) for food packaging via centrifugal spinning technique. LEO was extracted from dried lavender flowers by hydrodistillation. The dominant two of the 16 components of the extract identified by GS-MS were linalool (34.37 %) and linalyl acetate (28.82 %). PVP nanofiber mats loaded with three different concentrations of LEO were fabricated with centrifugal spinning and subsequently crosslinked. Nanofibers were characterized in encapsulation efficiency, morphological, mechanical, chemical, thermal, hydrophobicity and bioactivity aspects. The in-vitro antioxidant effect of nanofiber mats, which increased with the loaded LEO concentration, were determined by DPPH and ABTS methods. This effect was also consistent with the in-situ assessment where nanofibers were applied to minced lamb meat. Moreover, LEO-loaded PVP centrifugal spun positively affected the shelf life by suppressing the growth of aerobic mesophilic bacteria, psychotropic bacteria and, yeast molds that cause spoilage in meat.