ABSTRACT
Consumer demand for mildly preserved, minimally processed, easily prepared, and ready-to-eat “fresher” foods-together with the globalization of the food business, and the logistics of distribution from processing centers-pose major challenges for food quality and safety [1,2]. A reduction in shelf life of foods as a result of microbial contamination and an increase in the risk of foodborne illness are driving forces for innovative means to monitor microbial growth in the foods while enhancing food safety. Moreover, food traceability is now a legal requirement, especially in the European Union. This establishes a chain of responsibility throughout the entire food supply chain. Consequently, there is great interest among the food industry, retailers, consumers’ rights watchdogs, and food safety controlling bodies in developing accurate, cost-effective, rapid, reliable, noninvasive, and nondestructive methods or devices to evaluate real-time freshness of food products. An alternative concept to meet this requirement is the development of intelligent packaging (IP) [3].
