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Food Additives and Contaminants, October 2005; 22(10): 975979

Active and intelligent packaging for food: Is it the future?

A. R. DE JONG, H. BOUMANS, T. SLAGHEK, J. VAN VEEN, R. RIJK,


& M. VAN ZANDVOORT

TNO Quality of Life, Zeist, The Netherlands

Abstract
This paper gives an overview of the legal consequences of a new EU framework regulation on food contact materials which
includes controls on active and intelligent packaging. Recent developments in active and intelligent packaging systems are
described, two examples of which aim at achieving improvements in quality and safety of food products. The first one is an
on-command preservative-releasing packaging system. The second system is an intelligent concept, based on the
development of a non-invasive microbial growth sensor to monitor the sterility of food products.

Keywords: Intelligent, active packaging, food packaging, non-invasive, spoilage indicator,


food contact materials legislation

Introduction
are also subject to pre-existing food contact material
Active and intelligent packaging systems can provide (FCM) regulations, e.g. plastics, ceramics, etc.
several benefits to the quality and safety of food. The In addition, some of the systems may also be subject
active systems aim shelf-life extension of the food to regulations on food additives, biocides, labelling,
products by keeping its quality for longer (e.g. environment/waste, modified atmosphere, food
oxygen absorbers in nuts to prevent rancidity, hygiene, safety, weight and volume control (a gas
caused by fat-oxidation). The intelligent systems absorber or releaser can theoretically influence the
are aiming to monitor the quality of the food volume of a packed food product). All new active
product or its surrounding environment to predict and intelligent packaging systems initially need to be
or measure the safe shelf-life better than a best- evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority
before-date. A European Commission funded (EFSA). Based on the outcome of that evaluation,
project (FAIR-project CT-98-4170) known by the the Commission (DG SANCO) will grant a
acronym of ACTIPAK came up with recommenda- petitioner, authorization for the submitted active
tions which were taken up in the drafting of and intelligent ingredients/systems, which will be
amendments to the EU Framework Directive for entered in the Regulation.
food contact materials 89/109/EEC. This resulted in The general requirements for food contact
the adoption of a new Framework Regulation (1935/ materials (1935/2004/EC) also applies to active and
2004/EC) in which the use of active and intelligent intelligent packaging systems and, consequently,
packaging systems are now included. The new they shall not endanger human health. Releasing
Regulation will authorize the use of active and systems are however allowed to change the composi-
intelligent packaging, provided the packaging can tion of the food, provided the released substance is
be shown to enhance the safety, quality and shelf-life an authorized food additive. Labelling should
of the packaged foods. The new Framework comply with the food additive Directive. The release
Regulation for Food Contact Materials (1935/2004/ or absorption of substances should not mislead
EC, which was published on 27 October 2004) is a the consumer.
Regulation instead of a Directive, which means that Antimicrobial components incorporated in FCMs
it will become valid immediately in all EU Member and articles intended to be released into the food
States. All active and intelligent packaging systems (directly or via the headspace) must be approved

Correspondence: A. R. de Jong. E-mail: dejong@voeding.tno.nl


ISSN 0265203X print/ISSN 14645122 online 2005 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/02652030500336254
976 A. R. de Jong et al.

food additives and will need evidence of their detect changes (external stimulus) in the environ-
effectiveness. Any claim which is made for the ment and to respond to them automatically. For
active system should be proven. Preservatives may instance, the external stimulus may be a change in
also be added to FCMs in order to obtain an temperature, pH, humidity, UV, or the presence of
anti-microbial surface. These applications are not certain metabolites. The stimulus is converted into a
considered active materials. These systems should certain functionality. The goal of this general
not release the preservative into the food and concept is to develop systems that are active only at
thus have no effect on the microbial conditions of a specific time and place, i.e. when and where
the food. If the material is a plastic, it must required. The general advantages of the concept are,
comply with the current framework Regulation for example, increased stability and specificity and/or
(1935/2004/EC) and the Directives on plastics reduction in the chemicals needed. An application of
(2002/72/EC). BioSwitch is that of an anti-microbial active
packaging (see Figure 2). Small particles consisting
New active anti-microbial system for food packaging: of a matrix of polysaccharides such as starch or
Release on command blends of different natural polymers containing an
anti-microbial compound are coated onto a food
Some new developments in active packaging have
packaging surface.
included preservative-releasing packaging systems
In the case of initial microbial contamination,
aimed at extending the shelf-life of the packed food
these micro-organisms will start to secrete enzymes,
and thereby maintaining high quality. Such a
which will hydrolyze the polysaccharides (matrix) in
preservative-releasing packaging system called the
order to use these as substrate. Partial degradation of
BioSwitch concept has recently been developed and
the particles will induce release of the anti-microbial
patented (Thijssen et al. 2003, 2004). This system
compound, resulting in inhibition of microbial
only releases its preservative on command, which
growth. In this particular case, particles consisting
means that a preservative will be released from the
of modified starch were developed. These particles
packaging material if bacterial growth occurs, thus
are capable of absorbing an amount of water
inhibiting growth of the emerging bacteria. The
corresponding to 25200 times their own weight.
advantage of such a system is that the anti-microbial
These particles were used to absorb lysozyme,
agent only comes into contact with the food matrix
a natural anti-microbial compound isolated from
when there is microbial growth, so lower levels
chicken egg. To enable absorption of lysozyme,
of preservatives can be used in the food itself.
Another advantage is that the preservative can be
made highly selective to inhibit spoilage organisms
without, for example, inhibiting a desired fermenta-
tion process. This system is under development in external BioSwitch Functionality
stimulus
such a way that it will be, also from a legislation point
of view, applicable under the new European legisla-
tion for active packaging. sensor response
The general concept of BioSwitch is shown in
Figure 1, which illustrates a system that is able to Figure 1. General concept of BioSwitch.

Figure 2. Schematic representation of anti-microbial active-packaging. Micro-organisms hydrolyze starch-based particles, causing release
of the antimicrobial lysozyme, resulting in inhibition of microbial growth.
Active and intelligent packaging for food 977

a starch gel with a suitable porosity was developed by On addition of amylase, a rapid induced release
varying the degree of cross-linking and introducing of lysozyme is observed. To test whether particles
negatively charged groups. These groups were also containing lysozyme are also effective in inhibiting
needed for strong binding of lysozyme, resulting in a bacterial growth, particles were spotted into
no-release situation. The charged groups were the centre of an agar plate containing
introduced with an oxidation method that allows Bacillus licheniformis. A growth inhibition zone
accurate adjustment of the degree of oxidation and surrounding the spot was visible, showing that
thus a good balance between binding capacity growth of B. licheniformis is strongly inhibited by the
and biodegradability. Knowledge of the synthesis particles (see Figure 4).
parameters like choice of biopolymer or amount
and kind of introduced charge and cross-linker Intelligent systems in the food packaging chain
provide a good basis for the tailor-made development (De Jong and Van Zandvoort 2004)
of specific BioSwitch particles for a specific
In the EU, intelligent packaging systems are defined
application.
as Packaging that monitors the internal and/or
The evaluation of Bioswitch involved
external conditions of a product through its life
examining whether lysozyme could be released
cycle, in other words, a package that can commu-
in vitro by adding amylase to a suspension of
nicate (i.e. indicate) the quality of the product (TNO
starch-based particles. Figure 3 shows that, under
nutrition & Food Research et al. (2002) Basically,
normal conditions, the particles do not release any
there are two types of intelligent packaging: One
lysozyme a so-called no-release situation.
based on measuring the condition of the package on
the outside, the other measuring directly the quality
30 of the food product, i.e. inside the packaging. In the
Lysozyme activity
latter case there is direct contact with the food or
25 with the headspace and there is always the need
for a marker indicative of the quality and/or safety
20 of the packed food.
The following indicators can be distinguished:
15
Time-temperature indicators (TTI). The basic idea
10 behind temperature-related food quality indicators is
that the quality of food deteriorates more rapidly at
5 higher temperature, and thus maintaining correct
low storage temperatures ensures food safety. TTIs
0 are placed at the outside of each single package
0 500 1000 1500
Time (minutes)
or can be placed in bigger containers or trays.
amylase
A TTI can be defined as a small measuring device
Figure 3. Release of lysozyme from particles upon addition that shows a time- and temperature-dependent,
of amylase. irreversible change (e.g. a colour change). It is
important that the run-out time of the indicator
correlates well with the shelf-life-limiting factor of
the food.
Gas leakage indicators. Oxygen and carbon dioxide
indicators can also be used to monitor food quality.
They can be used as a leakage indicator or to verify
the efficiency of, for example, an oxygen scavenger.
Most of these indicators are based on colour change
as a result of a chemical or enzymatic reaction. These
indicators have to be in contact with the gaseous
environment inside the package and hence are in
direct contact with the food. An example of a non-
invasive oxygen sensor in a package monitored
in production lines is the fluorescent technology
developed by TNO and currently marketed
by OxySense Inc.
Figure 4. Inhibition of growth of B. licheniformis in vicinity Toxin indicators. The key problem for toxin indica-
of particles containing lysozyme. tors is that pathogenic micro-organisms generally
978 A. R. de Jong et al.

only exist in or on a food product at very low or not a container is contaminated with micro-
concentrations (but already can be dangerous at organisms without opening the container.
those levels) and are not homogeneously distributed For instance, in case of sterile (tissue) cultures of
throughout the whole food. For this reason it is plants, there is a need for an indicator to confirm
not very likely that a marker for a toxin (or a sterility of the contents of a container before use.
toxin-producing organism) is present at high levels; In the project description (Van Veen 2004) a proof-
thus, a detector or sensor has to be extremely of-principle of the concept for sterile tissue culture
sensitive and completely in contact with the food. of plants is given. The concept is based on the
These systems are not likely to become available idea of inducing extracellular enzymes by means of
in the near future. substrate addition (optional) to the medium used in
a particular application in combination with a non-
invasive sensor detecting either directly extracellular
Spoilage detectors/freshness indicators. An ideal indica- enzyme activity or the metabolic products (see
tor for the quality of packaged foods would indicate Figure 5). An accumulative detection principle is
real spoilage or lack of freshness of the product applied to enable the detection of low levels of initial
instead of just temperature abuse or package leaks. contamination even after the micro-organisms have
In this way the starting quality of the product would died. The detection strategy is mainly based on
be taken into account as well as all supply chain fluorescence detection although for visual detection
mistakes. Spoilage detectors are sensitive to specific also colour-based indicators are used.
by-products originating from deterioration reactions It was concluded that the combination of certain
in the food and are therefore placed inside the protein additions and the detection of protease
package. They have to be thoroughly validated for activity was the most successful combination in
every type of the food product. Nearly all of them case of sterile plant cultivation. The best results
are still in a developmental stage at universities or have been obtained with an accumulative detection
innovative companies. A good example of such an principle, enabling not only the detection of low
indicator for a specific product is an indicator for the levels of initial contamination but also being
freshness of packed fish products based on either effective after the logarithmic growth phase of the
the tri-methyl amine formed by the bacterial reduc- micro-organisms.
tion of tri-methylamine N-oxide (TMAO) or the Enzyme activity sensors based on fluorescence
total volatile base (sum of basic reduced nitrogen with a high emission wavelength are regarded as
gases). the right choice for further development in order to
An example of a non-specific indicator is the decrease matrix effects. A number of possibilities to
microbial growth indicator under development and achieve this have been investigated and its feasibility
patented by TNO (Van Veen 2004). This is actually has been demonstrated (see Figure 6). Either the
a non-invasive microbial growth indicator that is able enzyme activity or the products formed will cause an
to determine the presence of micro-organisms in optical change in the fluorescent properties of these
closed, aseptic containers. For several applications sensors, which can be detected non-invasively from
dealing with packed products in closed, aseptic the outside of the container. These sensors are
containers, there is a need to determine whether insensitive to pH. The sensors could be applied as

Figure 5. Demonstrators in two different containers using different indicators.


Active and intelligent packaging for food 979
550
Accumulative protease activity (a.u.)
E. Coli
2. Reliability and effectiveness: Active systems must
L.B. Plantarum be thoroughly validated for each specific applica-
450 A. Niger tion to be sure that they are dedicated and
effective. In case the shelf-life date would be
350 replaced by the indicator, the performance of
the indicator would need to be 100% effective,
250 giving a guarantee for a zero false-positive result.
3. Technical hurdles: For active systems incor-
150
poration of the active component with sufficient
capacity in the main material is needed. The
50
main technical hurdle for intelligent systems
is in the development of interactive freshness
0 2 4 6 8 10
-50 indicators, which measure directly the level of
Days
(microbiological) contamination of the product
Figure 6. Measured accumulative protease activities in a closed or other parameters that are indicative of the
container at room temperature for various micro-organisms.
products quality level.
4. Costs for both types are still high. It is obvious,
a sticker or printed onto the container or the that these costs will drastically be reduced with
packaging material. broader application and thus scaling-up of
Besides the application of sterile plant cultivation, production. Discussions are ongoing as to
a number of other applications or markets are whether consumers will be ready to pay the
identified for the technology developed in this extra costs for the extra safety/quality tools.
project. The markets for non-invasive sensors that 5. Food producer, consumer and retail acceptance
safeguard sterility issues in clinical tissue culture will be needed to enable an introduction on
applications, in sterile food products (e.g. clinical a large scale. In the ACTIPAK project,
food, baby food) and for microbiological ingress consumers attitudes were investigated in a
measurements are regarded as the most promising number of European countries, showing that
ones. For these other applications, possibly other most consumers are open to innovations in
designs can be applied, for instance generic detection this area provided the material is safe and the
of amylase activity. Advantages of this technology information is unambiguous for the user.
are: It is non-invasive, so it can be applied in any
container; it will be cost-effective (for the disposable Despite the hurdles that have to be overcome in
part costs are in the order of euro cents); it is the near future, there is a strong view that active and
generic with respect to the detection of microbiolog- intelligent packaging will be a technical tool in the
ical contamination; there will be no need for market with a high potential, covering both more
antibiotics; it is compatible with flexible packaging transparent communication to consumers and the
materials and disposable tissue culture products; need for the retail and food industry to better control
and it can add functionality to existing products or the food production chain.
packaging.

Future perspectives for active and intelligent References


packaging De Jong AR, Van Zandvoort MMJ. 2004. From best before
date to freshness indicator? Food and Beverage International
A bright future may be anticipated for active and September 2004:2833.
intelligent packaging, as it fits perfectly with the food Thijssen HMWM, Montijn RC, Timmermans JW. 2003.
safety strategy, involving an improved level of food Antimicrobial envelopes. Patent number WO 03101196.
safety and transparency to consumers. For the future Thijssen HMWM, Montijn RC, Timmermans JW. 2004.
Inducible release vehicles. Patent number WO 2004105485.
development in Europe some major factors have TNO Nutrition & Food Research et al. 2002. European project
to be considered: FAIR R&D program (CT98-4170) ACTIPAK, Evaluating
safety, effectiveness, economic-environmental impact and
1. Some legal hurdles: Most active and intelligent
consumer acceptance of active and intelligent packaging.
concepts that are on the market in the USA and Van Veen JJF. 2004. Method for the non-invasive detection
Australia cannot be introduced in Europe yet, of microorganisms in a closed container. Patent number
due to more stringent EU legislation. WO 2004024945.

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