Thymol@activated Carbon Nanohybrid for Low-Density Polyethylene-Based Active Packaging Films for Pork Fillets’ Shelf-Life Extension

Τhe replacement of food packaging additives and preservatives with bio-based antioxidant/antibacterial compounds has been a common practice in recent years following the trend of bioeconomy and nanotechnology. Such bio-additives are often enclosed in nanocarriers for a controlled release process. Following this trend in this work, a thymol (TO)-rich activated carbon (AC) nanohybrid was prepared and characterized physicochemically with various techniques. This TO@AC nanohybrid, along with the pure activated carbon, was extruded with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) to develop novel active packaging films. The codenames used in this paper were LDPE/xTO@AC and LDPE/xAC for the nanohybrid and the pure activated carbon, respectively. X-ray diffractometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy measurements showed high dispersity of both the TO@AC nanohybrid and the pure AC in the LDPE matrix, resulting in enhanced mechanical properties. The active film with 15 wt.% of the TO@AC nanohybrid (LDPE/15TO@AC) exhibited a 230% higher water/vapor barrier and 1928% lower oxygen permeability than the pure LDPE film. For this active film, the highest antioxidant activity referred to the DPPH assay (44.4%), the lowest thymol release rate (k(2) ≈ 1.5 s(−1)), and the highest antibacterial activity were recorded, resulting in a 2-day extension of fresh pork fillets’ shelf-life.