Active packaging from natural ingredients applied to meat: A review

Abstract

Meat is a highly perishable food that requires proper preparation and treatment in order to extend its longevity. Active packaging is an innovation that continues to be developed for the food industry. Active packaging is a modern technology that aims to extend the shelf life, and maintain or improve the condition of packaged food for the better, by incorporating active ingredients into the packaging that are capable of releasing or absorbing substances from or into the packaged food or the environment. The use of chemicals in meat preservation and packaging gives a sense of worry to consumers. Researchers are looking for alternatives to chemicals, namely from natural ingredients used in the active packaging of meat. The use of natural herbal ingredients combined with various preservatives aims to increase efficiency and minimize the effects on the organoleptic quality of meat. Testing various extracts of natural ingredients into active packaging applied to meat showed good results. The results showed that various natural extracts contain compounds that have antimicrobial, antioxidant, and lipid-activating properties. Natural ingredients such as citrus extracts, propolis extracts, and essential oils of zataria multiflora (zeo), mustard seeds, the green, rambutan, garlic, and Origanum vulgare flowers have antioxidant compounds, and antimicrobial compounds and are able to reduce lipid oxidation activity of meat, and the results of research using mustard seed extracts, the green, garlic, Origanum vulgare flowers able to increase the shelf life of meat.