Recent Trends in Active, Smart, and Intelligent Packaging for Food Products

Abstract Bioengineering in Food packaging has been defined as packaging in which supplementary components have been purposely incorporated to enhance the shelf life of the food products, indicate freshness, exhibit information of qualities, and improve safety. Conversion of nonbiodegradable plastic to biodegradable plastic by altering its chemical structure and molecular weight eventually lowers the production cost through bioengineering. Bioengineered food packaging materials are closely related with active, intelligent, and smart packaging. A packaging material that provides an active function apart from inert containment and protection to the product is referred to as active packaging. Intelligent and smart packaging usually incorporates the capacity to sense or quantify the attributes of the produce, the inner environment of the package, or the transport atmosphere. Apart from a number of conventional varieties of packaging, the terms are used for technologically advanced systems, such as microelectronics, computer application, and nanotechnology. This chapter will discuss the definition, basic principles, technological development, and application of antimicrobial, active, smart, intelligent packaging, including time–temperature indicators, integrity or gas indicators, freshness indicators, barcodes, and radio frequency identification tags (RFIDs). Biodegradable packaging, the application of nanoclay, biosensors including gas sensors, fluorescence-based oxygen sensors, electronic nose, and legal aspects of using the bioengineered package, as well as problems associated with commercialization and some probable solutions will also be discussed.