Smart Food Packaging for Monitoring Food Quality

Given the pronounced impact of foodborne illness and food waste on both human health and the economy, there is a pronounced need for effective food monitoring technologies. While rapid on-site testing platforms stand to bring value to private industry stakeholders, enabling food monitoring at the consumer level requires the development of smart food packaging. Such platforms must offer accurate, easy-to-transduce food quality signals in a cost effective manner to permit widespread implementation. Smart packaging for contamination and spoilage detection have been widely detailed in literature, employing diverse materials and a wide range of sensing cascades. In this chapter, we detail the stages that inform smart food packaging design and development: material selection, the in-package sampling strategy, and the in-package monitoring mechanism. Further, we discuss the barriers that have prevented real-world translation of developed platforms, as well as opportunities for defined impact.