Antimicrobial food packaging: Challenges and achievements

Abstract

Antimicrobial food packaging: Challenges and achievements Dr Kay Cooksey, Professor and Cryovac Chair at Clemson University, shares the potential of antimicrobial food packaging in mitigating microbial growth and the obstacles that have hindered the development of commercially available products thus far. Antimicrobial packaging is a segment of active packaging. The classical definition of active packaging is a package that senses the presence of something changing in the package and reacts to mitigate or affect the change. A good example is oxygen scavenging sachets that sense the presence of oxygen and use scavenger technology (iron powder is common) and can preferentially scavenge oxygen away from food. Antimicrobial packaging is similar in that it detects the presence of bacteria, yeast, or mold and either prevents it from growing or damages the microorganisms to the point that they cannot grow without optimal conditions. Research on antimicrobial packaging has been ongoing for over 40 years, yet there are few commercially available products. Those that are commercially available are currently in niche markets.