What is smart packaging
The definition of "smart packaging" can be traced back to a conference in London in 1992. Generally speaking, intelligent packaging refers to providing information on the quality of packaged food during circulation and storage by detecting the environmental conditions of packaged food. The integration of machinery, biology, electronics, chemical sensors and network technology into packaging materials can enable ordinary packaging to achieve many "special functions". Common intelligent food packaging forms mainly include time temperature type, gas indicating type and freshness indicating type.
Types of intelligent packaging
Time temperature smart packaging mainly records the continuous process of temperature change of food during storage and sales through time and temperature indicators, and predicts the quality change of food in this way to ensure the safety of perishable food. According to the types of indicators used, they can be divided into physical type, chemical type, biological type and enzyme type.
The gas indicating smart packaging can monitor the change of the gas in the food package, react with the specific gas in the package, and monitor the freshness of the food in the package, whether the packaging materials are damaged, etc. According to the different types of gases detected, the gas indicator type can be divided into carbon dioxide, oxygen, volatile sulfur compounds, volatile nitrogen compounds and ethylene integrated type.
Freshness indicator Freshness indicator usually predicts the freshness of food by the reaction of food metabolites (such as glucose, ethanol, organic acid, ATP degradation products and biogenic amine) with indicators. The indicators used include microbial indicators, chemical reaction color change indicators, etc.
Recognition of intelligent packaging
RFID is an automatic identification system for communication based on RFID tags, which is mainly used for origin traceability and supply chain management to achieve the purpose of quality supervision. At present, this technology is widely used in logistics, packaging, retail, manufacturing and other industries. In foreign countries, some companies have applied this technology to the traceability of baking products and the quality control of the whole process.
New applications of RFID technology are also being developed. When RFID tags send wireless signals to interact with food, their signals will change according to the level of specific pollutants in the product. At present, this technology has been used to identify whether baby food is adulterated with melamine and whether alcohol is adulterated. In the future, RFID tags can not only be used for traceability of food supply chain and perishable food, but also realize real-time non-destructive monitoring of food pollution.
Intelligent packaging and functional packaging
Functional packaging and intelligent packaging are two new types of packaging. They can make food packaging have functional characteristics that traditional packaging cannot obtain, and meet consumers' requirements for food quality and safety.
Common functional packaging includes modified atmosphere packaging, antibacterial packaging, ethylene adsorption packaging, oxygen absorption packaging, self heating/self cooling packaging, odor adsorption packaging, aromatic smell release packaging, moisture absorption packaging, etc.
