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Bio-Based Smart Materials for Food Packaging and Sensors – A Review

Frontiers in Materials 2020 180 citations

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This review examined bio-based smart packaging materials that combine sustainability with real-time food quality monitoring through integrated sensors. Researchers explored how biodegradable and renewable packaging materials with embedded bio-based sensors could help reduce food waste, increase shelf life, and decrease reliance on conventional petroleum-based plastics in the food industry.

Food industry must guarantee food safety and seek sustainable solutions for increasing shelf life and decreasing food waste. Bio-based smart packaging is a potential option, where sustainability and real-time monitoring of food quality are combined assuring health safety and providing economic and environmental benefits. In this context, bio-based refers not only to packaging materials that are from renewable sources and biodegradable, but also to the sensor elements. The scope of this review is to explore the state-of-the-art of bio-based polymers used as food contact materials and to highlight the potential of natural compounds for sensing chemical and physical changes of the environment to monitor the food quality. Finally, different sustainability aspects of the bio-based materials are discussed.

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