Active edible films represent one of the current and future trends in the development of new polymers for selected applications,
particularly food packaging. Some biopolymers show excellent performance as carriers for active compounds extracted from
natural sources and are able to be released at a controlled rate to packaged food. In this review we aim to present, in a comprehensive
way, the most recent advances and updates in this subject, where much research is currently ongoing and new studies are reported
very often. This review focuses on innovative biopolymer matrices, their processing to obtain edible active films, and present and
future applications. VC 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42631.