ABSTRACT
The packaging is an essential and integral part of our daily life and its demand has augmented due to revolution in industrial development. Traditionally, packaging helps in the containment of food products and it now continues to be the most innovative component of processed foods for accelerating demand and awareness of consumers towards packaging. Till date, novel food packaging systems (such as intelligent, smart/active, antimicrobial, and biodegradable/edible packaging) are the most recent developments to meet the preferences of consumers. Novel packaging systems not only serve the purpose of packaging but also offer specific functions in processing, transportation, and storage of foods. Novel packaging system maximizes shelf-life, and at the same time assesses the food quality while in pack, till the product reaches to the end-consumer. In the modern packaging system, internal changes in product’s environmental conditions are controlled/sensed/detected/recorded or altered for the preservation action. Bioactive packaging, the release of antimicrobial agents from packaging material itself requires skillful efforts, to increase the shelf-life by preventing microbial growth and food spoilage. On the other hand, intelligent packaging (time-based temperature indicators (TTIs)), fresh-check indicator, gas-based indicators, thermochromic inks, and biochip-based sensors display the real-time information on the outside of the package. Hence, novel food packaging systems offer new and innovative food packaging solutions to achieve the best quality and safety of foods and convenience to consumers.
