Chapter Twelve - Smart food packaging materials

Abstract

Packaging has become pivotal in attaining the quality of food products. Advancements in packaging have shown to increase the shelf life of foods and simultaneously maintaining the superior quality. Smart food packaging addresses various concerns of food industry. The innovations in field of active and smart food packaging have led to infinite applications in food industry. Active packaging includes usage of agents like antimicrobials, ethylene scavengers, CO2 emitters, antioxidants, and oxygen scavengers. The active agents incorporated include chitosan, nanoparticles (silver, zinc, titanium dioxide, etc.), essential oils, and biodegradable polymers (polylactic acid and polyhydroxybutyrate). Intelligent packaging enables in monitoring the package for internal conditions like temperature, pH, and other internal properties. Intelligent packaging includes time temperature indicators, gas indicators, and freshness indicators. Sensors have gained popularity and are used for detecting location, physical, and chemical properties. Data carriers are used for efficient flow of information; the major categories of data carriers are barcodes and radio frequency identification tags. E-nose is a noble analytical technology for assessing the quality of food even before consumption. It also helps in detecting any potential dangerous odor. The accomplishment of good quality food throughout the storage and transportation inside a smart packaging material should comply with the legislations and regulations. It should assent intellectual property, data privacy and security, safety labeling, environmental regulations, supply chain and trade regulations, and waste management regulations. The chapter elaborates on all the above-mentioned aspects of small food packaging.