Study on flavonoid migration from active low-density polyethylene film into aqueous food simulants

•Flavonoids could migrate easily from LDPE films into water food simulants.•The properties of simulants affected the migration amounts of flavonoids.•Diffusion parameters of flavonoids in LDPE films were calculated.•Activation energy of 30% ethanol was the lowest among three food simulants.

The migration of flavonoids from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film (0.4%, w/w) to aqueous food simulants over 16 weeks at 0, 15, and 30 °C was investigated. The migration amount of total flavonoids was calculated based on the rutin contents determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Diffusion and partition coefficients, along with the activation energy (Ea) were calculated based on Fick’s second law. The results showed that the migration of flavonoids was influenced by temperature, time and the simulants. The Ea values for flavonoid diffusion were 49.2, 55.9, and 25.8 kJ mol−1 in distilled water, 4% acetic acid and 30% ethanol, respectively. This study indicated that the flavonoids in LDPE film easily migrated into food simulants; and this behaviour was related to the low Ea values of flavonoid diffusion, especially in ethanol at 0–30 °C, when the antioxidants were released from the film.