Table 5.

Essential oils and their components and their use for the development of active food packaging.

Essential oil Component	Encapsulation Strategy	Packaging Material	Food Product	Antimicrobial Effectiveness in vivo	Ref.
Cinnamon	NA	Polyvinyl alcohol electrospun fibres	Strawberries	When compared to control films, EO films stopped fungal rotting for up to 6 days of storage at 21 °C	[89]
Oregano	Nanoemulsion	Mandarin fibre edible coating	Low-fat cut cheese	Decreased Staphylococcus microbial population by 1.4 and 1.5 log CFU/g in coated cheese pieces containing 2.0% or 2.5% w/w of EO, respectively, during 15 days of refrigerated storage	[90]
Lemongrass	NA	Zein edible coating	Cold-smoked sunshine bass fillets	LG-treated samples reduced L. monocytogenes counts by 2.5 log in polyvinyl chlorine and 1.7 log in vacuum-packaged samples, respectively	[91]
Ginger	NA	Soy protein/zein electrospun fibres	Fresh Minas cheese	Significant reductions of L. monocytogenes were observed on the 3rd and 9th day of storage At day 9, L. monocytogenes counts decreased from 4.39 log CFU/g to 3.62 log CFU/g for the stored cheeses in the package containing EO-fibres when compared to the cheese stored in the fiberless package at 4 °C	[92]
Thymol Carvacarol	Montmorillonite	Themoplastic starch films	Strawberries	In vivo additive/synergistic antimicrobial effect over Botrytis cinerea-inoculated strawberries was observed when carvacrol+thymol were both included in the films with respect to the films containing only carvacrol A drastic reduction of 2.4-fold on EO inhibitory concentration against Botrytis cinerea in strawberries stored at room temperature for 5 days: IC50 values dropped from 14.16 g/kg film (only carvacrol) to 5.90 g/kg film (carvacrol: thymol 50:50) in indirect contact with the films	[93]
Paulownia tomentosa	Chitosan nanoparticles	Chitosan edible coating	Pork chop slices	EO-chitosan coatings decreased microbial growth (total viable counts, Pseudomonads and lactic acid bacteria) on pork chops compared to the control during 16 days of refrigerated storage Microbial shelf-life extension from 6 to 9 days	[94]
Thyme Cinnamon Lemongrass	NA	Chitosan film	Peanut kernels	Peanut kernels packed in chitosan films incorporated with 4% cinnamon EO showed complete inhibition of Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium citrinum growth at 4 and 28 °C after 24 days of storage compared with all other treatments Thyme and lemongrass EOs were less effective in reducing fungal growth at all concentrations and conditions tested	[95]
Chamomile Ginger	NA	Whey protein isolate edible coating	Rainbow trout fillets	Significant reduction in total viable counts and psychrotrophs was observed in trout fillets during 15 days of refrigerated storage when coated with ginger and camomile alone or in combination The best results were obtained when both oils were used in combination These films did not show a significant reduction in lactic acid bacteria counts and Pseudomonads	[96]
Oregano Tea tree Peppermint	Nanoemulsion	Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) reinforced chitosan	Rice	Of the 3 combinations tested (thyme:oregano, thyme:tea tree and thyme:peppermint), thyme:oregano nanoemulsions were the most effective against A. niger, A. flavus, A. parasiticus and P. chrysogenum Thyme:oregano films caused a significant reduction in all moulds growth during the 8 weeks of storage at room temperature This antifungal activity was improved when active films were used in combination with irradiation treatment	[97]
Geraniol α-Terpilenol	NA	Ethylene–vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH)	Fish slices	On day 8 of 10 days of refrigerated storage, the total viable counts cut down 1.98 ± 0.02 log units for fish samples packaged in geraniol/EVOH films Active films containing 6% (w/w) of geraniol and terpineol effectively extended shelf life by 4–5 days under cold-storage conditions compared with the control group	[98]
Eugenol Carvacrol Thymol	NA	Zein edible coating	Melons	The coating of melons with zein-2% eugenol mixtures caused a marked and similar decrease in both L. innocua and E. coli counts on melon surface during storage at 4 °C for 10 days	[99]
Cumin	NA	PET films coated with chitosan and alginate	Chicken meat	No significant growth reduction was obtained for total viable counts and psychrotrophs in active film chicken samples during refrigerated storage during 6 days	[100]
Thyme	NA	Silk fibroin electrospun fibres	Poultry (chicken and duck) meat	Active films caused a 2-fold reduction on Salmonella Typhimurium on chicken and duck meat stored at 25 and 4 °C Films antimicrobial activity was enhanced when combined with cold plasma	[101]
EO mix (carvacrol:oregano:cinnamon 70:10:20)	Cyclodextrin Halloysite tubes	Cardboard	Tomatoes	Decay incidence of tomatoes within cyclodextrin−EOs boxes was reduced from 9−15% to 2% after a storage period of 6 days/8 °C+12 days/25 °C	[102]
Carvacrol	Halloysite tubes	Chitosan-coated polyethylene	Chicken meat	Active films caused a 1.5 log reduction on total viable counts on chicken meat surface following 24h of incubation at 4 °C	[103]