Abstract
Food commodities are packaged and hygienically transported to protect and preserve them from any un-acceptable alteration in quality, before reaching the end-consumer. Food packaging continues to evolve along-with the innovations in material science and technology, as well as in light of consumer's demand. Presently, the modern consumers of competitive economies demands for food with natural quality, assured safety, minimal processing, extended shelf-life and ready-to-eat concept. Innovative packaging systems, not only ascertains transit preservation and effective distribution, but also facilitates communication at the consumer levels. The technological advances in the domain of food packaging in twenty-first century are mainly chaired by nanotechnology, the science of nano-materials. Nanotechnology manipulates and creates nanometer scale materials, of commercial and scientific relevance. Introduction of nanotechnology in food packaging sector has significantly addressed the food quality, safety and stability concerns. Besides, nanotechnology based packaging intimate's consumers about the real time quality of food product. Additionally, nanotechnology has been explored for controlled release of preservatives/antimicrobials, extending the product shelf life within the package. The promising reports for nanotechnology interventions in food packaging have established this as an independent priority research area. Nanoparticles based food packages offer improved barrier and mechanical properties, along with food preservation and have gained welcoming response from market and end users. In contrary, recent advances and up-liftment in this area have raised various ethical, environmental and safety concerns. Policies and regulation regarding nanoparticles incorporation in food packaging are being reviewed. This review presents the existing knowledge, recent advances, concerns and future applications of nanotechnology in food packaging sector.
Highlights
Global food industry is under rising pressure to meet consumers demand for safe, healthy and fresh food, along with a challenge to meet updated strict food safety regulations
In another study conducted by Sanchez-Valdes et al (2009), silver nanoparticles deposited over multilayered linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) showed 70% reduction of Aspergillus niger
The dawn of nanotechnology has further opened up new avenues and technological advancement possibilities in food packaging area
Summary
Global food industry is under rising pressure to meet consumers demand for safe, healthy and fresh food, along with a challenge to meet updated strict food safety regulations. Nanomaterials improve the mechanical and barrier properties of food packages; along with offering active and intelligent packaging systems (Mihindukulasuriya and Lim, 2014). In the twenty-first century, food producers/processors/ vendors and consumers, seeks novel and resourceful food packaging systems, with committed food safety, quality and traceability This demand needs innovative tools/technology that can be assembled together for application in food packaging. Active packaging incorporates the active constituent using nanotechnology into a food package material and the carrier component can interact with internal and/or external factors, thereby stimulating actions, which increases the shelflife, food quality and safety of the food product. In case of intelligent packaging systems, the nanotechnology based indicator/sensor(s) are incorporated into the food package, where they can interact with internal (food components and headspace) and external environmental factors (Figures 3, 4; Mihindukulasuriya and Lim, 2014)
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