Performance of an active paper based on cinnamon essential oil in mushrooms quality

• The antioxidant capacity of two different active papers with cinnamon essential oil was studied.
• The use of the active paper increased the shelf life of mushrooms.
• Papers based on emulsion paraffin were more active against mushroom browning and weight loss.
• Scavenging capacity of the DPPH radical was mainly related with eugenol.
• Tyrosinase inhibition was mainly due to cinnamaldehyde release.

The antioxidant capacity of two active papers (based on solid and emulsion paraffin) with cinnamon essential oil was studied. Mushroom samples were introduced in macroperforated PET trays covered with the active papers, and weight loss and browning monitored for 9 days. The antioxidant capacity of the different papers was evaluated based on scavenging 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and tyrosinase inhibition kinetics, and the release of aromatic volatile oils was determined by HSPME–GC–MS. Differences in performance were observed: the active papers were more efficient at avoiding weight loss and mushroom browning when compared to the non-active paraffin-based papers. The efficiency increased when the bottom and walls of the trays were covered rather than the bottom alone. Better results were observed when cinnamon was incorporated as emulsion paraffin instead of a solid.