Supervisiors: Ákos Jóźwiak DVM, PhD and Andrea Zentai PhD Year of submisson: 2022 The production of safe foods with little or no artificial preservatives is one of th foremost leading challenges for food industries because of the sever adverse effects caused by some synthetic materials. This increased consumer demand for safe food products has forced said industries to use natural herbal and plant-origin preservatives instead. The use of essential oils combined with nanotechnology has been said to be one of the most promising alternatives to improve their shelf-life and preservative efficacy at low doses. Several challenging safety issues associated with nanoencapsulated materials still need to be resolved before their application by food industries as well as consumers, such as their physicochemical properties. This study reviews the recent developments in antimicrobial essential oil based nanoparticles and their application in different food sectors and assesses the available technologies. In addition, existing limitations, challenges, adverse effects and requirements for their commercialization are also discussed.