Lemon essential oil/vermiculite encapsulated in electrospun konjac glucomannan-grafted-poly (acrylic acid)/polyvinyl alcohol bacteriostatic pad: Sustained control release and its application in food preservation

•Vermiculite can enhance the thermal stability of LEO and protect the bacteriostatic activity of LEO.•Polyvinyl alcohol can significantly improve the electrospinnability of Konjac glucomannan-grafted-poly (acrylic acid).•KGM-g-PAA/PVA pad can realize sustained control release, bacteriostatic and water absorbing for food preservation. Lemon essential oils (LEO), as natural bacteriostatic agents, show significant loss in the preparation processes of food packaging materials, therefore, an effective encapsulation of LEO is urgent for realizing the protection. In this study, LEO was absorbed by thermally stable and porous vermiculite (VML) to form LEO/VML complex, which is further coupled with konjac glucomannan-grafted-poly (acrylic acid)/polyvinyl alcohol (KGM-g-PAA/PVA) composite. KGM-g-PAA/PVA bacteriostatic water-absorbing pad was prepared via electrospinning technique, which can minimize the loss of LEO. The VML (1 g) can significantly reduce LEO loss and achieve sustained control LEO release from the pad, which follows the predominant mechanism of Fick diffusion law. The sustained control LEO release from the pad can effectively inhibit the growth of E. coli during storage, thus prolonging shelf life of chilled pork for 3 day. This study suggests that KGM-g-PAA/PVA pad may have a great potential in the field of intelligent packaging.