Essential Oils In Food Packaging Applications

Abstract

Food is a resource of imperative importance and its safety in the whole production, storage, and supply chain is very crucial. The incorporation of active materials in food packaging systems increases the shelf life and preserves or enhances the quality of food products. Recently, there is a trend toward the use of natural materials over synthetic products in food packaging and essential oils are considered a suitable class of active materials that can be used in food packaging systems. In this chapter, several types of essential oils used in food packaging and their sources and the method of extraction from their sources are discussed. The influence of essential oils on the physical, antioxidant, and antimicrobial characteristics of polymers for food packaging is discussed. The challenges associated with the usage of essential oil in food packaging and the trends are also summarized in this chapter. This chapter is intended to give an overview of essential oils as additives in active food packaging. © 2023 WILEY-VCH GmbH. All rights reserved.