Advances In Packaging

In the present time, consumers’ lives are getting busier. Due to lack of time, they have become more demanding. They’re asking for smarter packaging tailored to their needs to spend less time in the kitchen.

- Dr. Tanu Jain

At the same time, they’re also concerned about quality of food. It should be fresh, nutritious and safe for consumption. Packaging delivers products to consumers in perfect condition. Well-designed packaging meets the requirements of the product while minimizing economic and environmental impacts of both the product and its package. But, now much more is expected from packaging. To resolve all these problems, we have made more advancement in packaging for consumers. Not only, are they safe for consumption but also enhance and maintain the nutritional quality of food. We are talking about active packaging, MAP, edible films and coatings.

Active Packaging

Active packaging is considered as smart, convenient and safe for consumers. It has a packaging material that interacts with the internal gas environment to increase shelf life of a food. The technology works on the modification of gas environment and interacts with the surface of the food by removal or addition of gases. Recent innovations involve use of chemical scavengers to absorb a gas or alternatively other chemicals that may release a specific gas as required. A few areas for applications of active packaging are carbon dioxide production, water vapour removal, dried and sensitive foods, ethylene removal, horticultural produce, ethanol release etc. The packaging has been successful for extending shelf life of vegetables, fruits, and meat products.