Abstract
Publisher Summary The current attitude of the global society regarding the direction in which food packaging technology should evolve comprises two main concepts. The first focuses on maximum efficiency with minimum burden to the environment by use of the most environmentally friendly solutions that can provide the protective functionality required for food safety and integrity. Cost-efficient biodegradable materials and even edible packaging with improved technical characteristics are being intensively researched. The second concept aims to achieve additional functionality from the food packaging. Active, intelligent packaging allows for more than passive protection, potentially providing valuable information about the quality and safety status of the food product and contributes to better management of the food chain, reduction of food waste, and increased protection of the consumer. The communicative ‘intelligence' of a package refers to its ability to give information about the requirements of the product quality, such as package integrity and time–temperature history of the product. Intelligent packaging also gives information on product quality directly. Freshness indicators indicate directly the quality of the product. Thus a signal of microbiological quality could be a result of a reaction between the indicator and the metabolites produced during the growth of the microflora of the product.
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