ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Food Chemistry
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1615832
Chemical composition, characterisation, and antimicrobial properties of Thymbra spicata essential oil-based nanoemulsions and its application on curd cheese
Provisionally accepted- 1Çukurova University, Adana, Adana, Türkiye
- 2Adana Alparslan Turkes Science and Technology University, Adana, Adana, Türkiye
- 3Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Türkiye
- 4Istanbul University, Istanbul, Türkiye
- 5Dicle University, Diyarbakır, Diyarbakır, Türkiye
- 6Leibniz University Hannover, Hanover, Germany
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Thymbra spicata L. has been widely recognized as a food additive due to its therapeutic benefits and low toxicity risk. This study focuses on the chemical constituents of T. spicata essential oil, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of EO-based nanoemulsions and for the first time their effect on the preservation of curd cheese. Nanoemulsions containing three different concentrations of EO (1%, 3%, and 5%) were tested for conductivity, droplet size, pH, polydispersity index (PDI), rheological properties, viscosity, and zeta potential. In addition, chemical composition was analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Moreover, the antimicrobial properties of the EOs and its nanoemulsion forms were evaluated in vitro against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Bacillus subtilis using the agar well diffusion assay. After in vitro studies, the nanoemulsion concentrations of 1%, 3%, and 5% and pure EO were incorporated into curd cheese. Curd cheese treatments were assessed in terms of total yeast and mould, mesophilic aerobic and lactic acid bacteria count, as well as quality analyses for 28 days. The results showed that dispersions with a spherical shape and droplet sizes were smaller than 165 nm for all three concentrations (154.9 nm, 165.0 nm, and 151.3 nm, respectively). All formulations maintained their physical properties even after stability tests. Major components in the essential oil (EO) were identified as γ-terpinene, thymol, carvacrol, and p-cymene. The nanoemulsion delayed the growth of mould and yeast for up to 28 days. Consequently, these findings indicate that T. spicata EO and derived nanoemulsions could be used as vital sources for developing new and impactful antimicrobial agents for food and different industries.
Keywords: Thymbra spicata, Essential oil, Nanoemulsion, Antimicrobial activity, Food Preservation, Curd cheese, Antioxidant properties
Received: 21 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kayiran, Merve, Akgül, Kadiroğlu Kelebek, Cengiz, Cevikelli, Onan, Ozkan, Bozdogan, Boga, Ozogul, Esatbeyoglu and OZOGUL. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tuba Esatbeyoglu, Leibniz University Hannover, Hanover, Germany
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.