Unlocking Essential Oils’ Potential as Sustainable Food Additives: Current State and Future Perspectives for Industrial Applications

Israel Bautista-Hernández, Ricardo Gómez-García (), Guillermo Cristian Guadalupe Martínez-Ávila (), Nancy Medina-Herrera and María Dolores González-Hernández
Additional contact information
Israel Bautista-Hernández: Laboratory of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Agronomy, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, General Escobedo 66050, Nuevo León, Mexico
Ricardo Gómez-García: CBQF—Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina—Laboratório Associado, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Rua Diogo Botelho 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal
Guillermo Cristian Guadalupe Martínez-Ávila: Laboratory of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Agronomy, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, General Escobedo 66050, Nuevo León, Mexico
Nancy Medina-Herrera: Laboratory of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Agronomy, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, General Escobedo 66050, Nuevo León, Mexico
María Dolores González-Hernández: Laboratory of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Agronomy, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, General Escobedo 66050, Nuevo León, Mexico

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-36

Abstract: Essential oils (EOs) comprise a relevant bioactive fraction from diverse plant sources and vegetable tissues. Their beneficial properties have been mainly related to the presence of bioactive molecules such as monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, among others, with beneficial properties against critical issues in the food industry that could promote sustainable production beyond organoleptic boosters. This review collects up-to-date information concerning EOs and their bioactive applications in the food field. In addition, a bibliometric analysis was applied to scientific and intellectual property databases to elucidate the current technological trends for EOs in the food sector. Thus, the current information on the evaluation of EOs in food systems has demonstrated that their application guarantees safe and high-quality foods, as they have the potential to partially replace some of the conventional synthetic antioxidants and antimicrobial agents according to sustainable trends.

Keywords: green additives; bioactive compounds; natural preservatives; sustainable food supply chain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/5/2053/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/5/2053/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:5:p:2053-:d:1601206

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().