Bioactive compounds of cinnamon: a valuable aromatic plant for food packaging

Spices and aromatic plants are used since ancient times for culinary, medicine and aromatic purposes. In culinary they are used to add or enhance flavours to foods or culinary preparations and in cosmetics they are used due to their pleasant fragrances. Due to their known biological properties, such as antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, they are also used for medicine purposes both by traditional and current medicines. Cinnamon is one of these spices and it can be used in its various forms: whole or ground forms and as extract or essential oil usually obtained from cinnamon’s bark or leafs. Endemic to Sri Lanka, about 250 species of cinnamon have been identified being the Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume and the Cinnamomum cassia (L.) J. Presl the most common. Currently, food and cosmetic industries are studying the use of cinnamon for future application in their products in order to substitute the synthetic antioxidants due to their association with human health adverse effects. The aim of this work was to compile and discuss the phenolic compounds and the main volatile compounds of cinnamon based on an extensive literature research. The final goal was to evaluate the interest of this aromatic plant in food packaging.

This work was supported by the research project “Development of an edible film based on whey protein with antioxidant and antimicrobial activity using essential oils” (2012DAN807) funded by the National Institute of Health Dr Ricardo Jorge, I.P. (Lisbon, Portugal). Regiane Ribeiro dos Santos (BEX 8754/14- 4) is grateful for her research grant funded by Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) and Department of Food Technology, Institute of Technology, Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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