Release and antioxidant activity of carvacrol and thymol from polypropylene active packaging films

•The migration of carvacrol and thymol from PP films into food simulants was studied.•The release of carvacrol and thymol from PP films showed a Fick's behaviour.•The antioxidant activity of migration extracts was confirmed by the DPPH method.•Thymol showed higher migration and antioxidant activity into fatty food simulants.•Carvacrol and thymol show a potential use as antioxidants for active packaging.

The migration of antioxidant (AO) agents, carvacrol and thymol, from polypropylene (PP) packaging films containing the studied compounds at 80 g/kg separately and an equimolar mixture of them into food simulants was investigated. Fast and reliable analytical procedures were developed and validated for the analysis of the studied AOs in food simulants. For aqueous food simulants, solid phase extraction followed by GC-MS analysis was performed. Fatty food simulants were directly analysed by GC-MS and HPLC-UV for isooctane and ethanol 950 mL/L, respectively. The release of AOs from the films was dependent on the type of food stimulant and AO incorporated. In particular, high levels of migration were obtained for both AOs into isooctane, showing thymol higher migration. The release kinetics of AOs from PP films showed a Fichian behaviour with diffusion coefficients ranging from 1 to 2 × 10−14 m2/s; except for the diffusion into isooctane where 4-6 higher values were obtained. The antioxidant activity of migration extracts was confirmed by the DPPH method, showing thymol a higher antioxidant capacity especially into isooctane with a 42.2% of inhibition. The obtained results suggest that carvacrol and thymol show a potential use as AOs for active packaging for extending the shelf-life of food products.