ABSTRACT

Packaging as the fi nal stage of food production chain consists one of the main factors for ensuring quality and safety of the fi nal product. Given that foods are dynamic systems, the improvement of classic packaging techniques (e.g., modifi ed atmospheres) or developing of new ones is a continuous challenge for the food industry. In the last decade, among the most challenging packaging techniques for research, was active packaging. Specifi cally, active packaging is a system that involves interactions between food and packaging atmosphere, packaging material, or certain (bio-) active package components, in order to maintain or increase the nutritional, quality, and safety attributes of packaged food (Coma 2008). Oxygen scavengers, carbon dioxide emitters/absorbers, moisture and ethylene absorbers, fl avor releasing/absorbing systems, and antimicrobial agents are among the most distinctive types of active packaging. Antimicrobial agents may either be released through evaporation in the headspace (i.e., essential oils) or migrate into the food through diffusion and partitioning (i.e., nisin, organic acids). Migration could take place by adding directly the antimicrobial compound onto the surface of the food product or by incorporating it into edible carrier materials such as fi lms or coatings (Fig. 1).