Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the migration pattern of glycerol in zein films during packaging high-fat foods and high-salt powdered foods and the change mechanism within the films during storage. Firstly, glycerol/citric acid films (CG films) plasticized by glycerol (0.2 g/g) and citric acid (0.2 g/g) and glycerol/polyglycol films (PG films) plasticized by glycerol (0.15 g/g) and polyethylene glycol (0.2 g/g) were selected to pack and store the oil and salt by evaluating the barrier properties of the films. It was found that the migration of glycerol in CG films was higher than that in PG films during the storage. The migration of glycerol in zein films to the salt was higher than to the oil at the same storage temperature. The migration of glycerol to oil was higher in films stored at 25 ℃ than at 5 ℃, while the opposite was true for migration into salt. Moisture content in the films decreased gradually with storage time. Hydrogen bonding in the films was gradually weakened and negatively correlated with the migration of glycerol. The free sulfhydryl content in the films decreased gradually, and was affected by temperature and was negatively correlated with glycerol migration. The results showed that CG films were more suitable for packaging high-fat foods, and PG films were more suitable for packaging high-salt powders.