Food technologies: Packaging

Food packaging is vital to provide physical protection, information, prevent contamination, and to extend the shelf life. Several food packaging materials and technologies are used to protect and extend the shelf life of fresh and processed food products. Plastic packaging materials are used more than other packaging materials but are facing lot of criticism due to migration of packaging constituents into the food as well as flavor scalping issues. Innovation in traditional packaging technologies has increased the shelf life, freshness and food safety. Food packaging method differs according to the physiological, chemical, and structural properties of food materials. The safety concerns on migration of packaging materials are regulated by several regulatory authorities. Migration compounds not only affect the flavor profile but also affect the human health. The factors influencing migration are temperature abuse to packaging materials, hot filling of food, microwave heating, use of recycled plastics, etc. Chromatographic methods are commonly used to evaluate the overall migration and migration-specific compounds.