ABSTRACT
Nanotechnology has evolved over the years and revolutionized the agricultural and food systems with substantial potential. Owing to the benefits of size, efficiency, innovativeness, and better performance, nanomaterials have facilitated the postharvest management of food products. The various interventions of nanotechnology (controlled ripening, curtailing microbial growth, advances in packaging, nanobiosensors for labeling, spoilage sensing) in postharvest unit operations have strengthened and boosted the quality of the food systems. Packaging is an important domain of postharvest processing of food products and is constantly going forward along with innovations in material science and technology, as well as from the consumer’s perception. Consumers nowadays are more focused on food products that have a natural quality, minimal processing, ensured safety, better shelf life, and a ready-to-eat concept. The employment of nanoparticles in food packaging has accelerated the development of techniques concerned with freshness, contamination, and adulteration of food products. Nanotechnological interventions in food packaging predominantly envisage three prospects, namely, the incorporation into food products, the incorporation in packaging material, and applications in food processing. This chapter concentrates on the recent advancement and application of numerous nanomaterials in various dimensions of innovative packaging technologies.
