Electrospinning of gelatin-based composite Nanofibrous coating loaded with Citral and its antibacterial application in chilled meat preservation

Gelatin is an important biocompatible and sustainable material for developing novel active food packaging. Herein, we report a gelatin/citral emulsion electrospinning strategy using sodium dodecyl sulfate as both an emulsifier and crosslinking agent to achieve effective encapsulation of citral and continuous formation of bioactive nanofiber coatings. The resulting core-shell nanofibers (CIT-NF) exhibited an average diameter of 286.7 ± 83.6 nm with a citral loading capacity of 225.8 mg/g. Furthermore, a hydrophobic surface layer was constructed through gelatin/ethyl cellulose blend electrospinning to form a bilayer membrane (CIT/EG-NF). The results demonstrate that the gelatin-based shell layer significantly improved the thermal stability of citral, increasing its maximum mass loss rate temperature from 155.8 °C to 166.1 °C. Remarkably, the fibrous network of the hydrophobic surface layer not only enhanced the aqueous stability of the fiber coating but also enabled sustained release of antimicrobials over 48 h on semi-solid surfaces. The CIT/EG-NF coating efficiently inhibited microbial growth in fresh chicken and beef, reducing the total viable count by more than 99 % and maintaining it below the spoilage threshold of 6 log CFU/g after 9 days of storage at 4 °C. Additionally, the coating reduced Staphylococcal enterotoxin production by 30–40 % in both meat types under a high bacterial loading. This study presents a novel bio-based active packaging strategy for controlling microbial contamination in meat products.