Scope and approach: Essential oils represent an interesting ingredient for biodegradable food packaging,
mainly due to their natural origin and their functional (antioxidant/antimicrobial) properties, allowing
for obtaining active materials aiming to extend shelf-life and add value to the product. However, their
inclusion in edible/biodegradable films for food packaging may imply some impact on several properties
of the system (such as optical, tensile…), affecting in turn the consumer acceptability. Before the
increasing research on biodegradable materials for food packaging, and the growing interest on natural
food additives, this paper aims to review the latest findings on how essential oils impact the most
relevant properties of edible films and coatings, namely microstructural, physical (tensile, barrier, optical),
antioxidant and antimicrobial