Mesoporous silica as a natural antimicrobial carrier

► Reparation of MCM-41 and SBA-15 giving uniform, parallel mesopores. ► Adsorption capacity and time-dependent release profiles for allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) from each silica defined. ► Desorption as controlled release profile modeled for each AITC-silica system using Crank's cylinder model ► SBA-15 samples show 65% burst release of AITC in first 12 h. ► Natural antimicrobial properties of AITC demonstrated as controlled reduction in growth up to 72 h for E. coli, B. cereus, and P. anomola.