Poly(acid lactic) films with carotenoids extracts: Release study and effect on sunflower oil preservation

•PLA films with bixin presented the best performance as antioxidant active packaging.•Lycopene and beta-carotene protected the oil mainly by their light barrier properties.•Beta-carotene migrated to fat simulant in a much lower rate than lycopene and bixin.•Lycopene and beta-carotene reduced the oxygen permeability of PLA films.•Carotenoids’ degradation coefficient successfully fitted the proposed release model. Oxidative deterioration is one of the most important factors limiting shelf-life of fatty food products, where the use of active packaging produced with natural antioxidants is a strategy to minimize these reactions. Poly(acid lactic) (PLA) films were produced with carotenoids extracts rich in beta-carotene, lycopene, and bixin. The kinetics of carotenoids’ release to a fat simulant was evaluated and successfully explained by a new mathematical release model which considered the degradation of the migrants after their release. In the presence of light, films with lycopene and beta-carotene protected sunflower oil mainly by their light barrier properties, and secondly by their barrier to oxygen and antioxidant gradual releasing. The films produced with bixin presented the best performance as antioxidant active packaging to sunflower oil, where differences found in films barrier properties and in the transfer coefficients among the carotenoids were influenced by their molecular structures.