a School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou , China.
b Academy of Contemporary Food Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center , Guangzhou , China.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2018;58(15):2650-2662. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2018.1449731. Epub 2018 Apr 24.
The role of packaging cannot be denied in the life cycle of any food product. Intelligent packaging is an emerging technology in the food packaging sector. Although it still needs its full emergence in the market, its importance has been proved for the maintenance of food quality and safety. The present review describes several aspects of intelligent packaging. It first highlights different tools used in intelligent packaging and elucidates the role of these packaging devices for maintaining the quality of different food items in terms of controlling microbial growth and gas concentration, and for providing convenience and easiness to its users in the form of time temperature indication. This review also discusses other intelligent packaging solutions in supply chain management of food products to control theft and counterfeiting conducts and broaden the image of the food companies in terms of branding and marketing. Overall, intelligent packaging can ensure food quality and safety in the food industry, however there are still some concerns over this emerging technology including high cost and legal aspects, and thus future work should be performed to overcome these problems for further promoting its applications in the food industry. Moreover, work should also be carried out to combine several single intelligent packaging devices into a single one, so that most of the benefits from this emerging technology can be achieved.
包装在任何食品的生命周期中都起着不可忽视的作用。智能包装是食品包装领域的一项新兴技术。尽管它在市场上仍需要全面崛起，但它在保持食品质量和安全方面的重要性已经得到了证明。本综述描述了智能包装的几个方面。它首先强调了智能包装中使用的不同工具，并阐明了这些包装设备在控制微生物生长和气体浓度方面对维持不同食品质量的作用，以及为其用户提供便利性和易用性，例如时间温度指示。本综述还讨论了食品供应链管理中其他智能包装解决方案，以控制盗窃和假冒行为，并在品牌和营销方面扩大食品公司的形象。总的来说，智能包装可以确保食品工业中的食品质量和安全，然而，这种新兴技术仍然存在一些问题，包括成本高和法律方面的问题，因此需要开展未来的工作来解决这些问题，以进一步促进其在食品工业中的应用。此外，还应开展工作将几种单一的智能包装设备组合成一种单一的设备，以便从这项新兴技术中获得最大的收益。
