Bioactive-loaded nanovesicles embedded within electrospun plant protein nanofibers; a double encapsulation technique

There are difficulties with some traditional technologies for biopolymer coating of bioactive-loaded vesicular systems such as spray-drying and freeze-drying; high temperatures during spray drying can damage the loaded sensitive bioactives and freeze-drying is expensive. This is the driver for the adoption of emerging new tech-nologies including electrohydrodynamic processing. In this review, the principles of electrospinning (ES) are briefly summarized and the characteristics of some important plant proteins used as electrospun fibers (EFs) are described with applications as meat analogues. Next, methods for encapsulation of different bioactives through ES techniques via meat analogue proteins are discussed: this is focused on the strength of encapsulation through vesicular systems. Finally, we examine how vesicular embedded EFs can be applied in different fields of anti-oxidant and antimicrobial food packaging as well as the enhancement of bioaccessibility and protection of loaded bioactives. Embedding liposomes into nanofibers causes better antioxidant and sensory properties as well as substantial reduction of bacterial load when applied as packaging layers; this technology also significantly en-hances the photo-stability of bioactives. In addition, double encapsulation improves the long-term release of bioactives and can address the problem of burst release. Niosome-embedded EFs aid the sustained release of herbal bioactives and enhance their antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive/negative bacteria. The nio-somes are distributed throughout the nanofibers evenly and are kept intact during ES process.