Food Packaging and Shelf Life

Dear Colleagues,

Packaging plays a key role in the food industry and modern consumer marketing; it contains, protects and guarantees the safety of fresh and processed food, along the whole food supply chain, from production and processing, to the final user, through handling and storage. The protection from outside physical, chemical and biological contaminants, provided by packaging, is an essential part of the food preservation process since it is able to prevent or minimize deteriorative reactions in food. Over recent decades, innovative packaging technologies, such as modified atmosphere packaging, active packaging, and smart and intelligent packaging, have allowed to extend shelf-lives, reduce the rate of quality loss and increase the safety of packaged foods. Despite the importance and key role of packaging in the modern food system, packaging has a negative impact on the environment by representing the major cause of municipal waste stream. Recent advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology and material science are offering new possibilities for developing food packaging materials able to address increasing consumer preferences and industry demands for more sustainable and cost-effectiveness packaging. Food packaging and shelf-life meet the needs of material scientists, food chemists, technologists and microbiologists in the food packaging and shelf-life area.

Dr. Concetta Condurso
Guest Editor

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• Food packaging material development
• Physical & chemical properties of food packaging materials
• Polymer, glass, metal and paper packaging systems
• Vacuum, gas, aseptic and sterile packaging
• Modified atmosphere packaging systems
• Active packaging systems
• Bioactive packaging systems
• Smart and intelligent packaging systems
• Nano packaging
• Microencapsulation
• Biobased packaging
• Edible packaging
• Biodegradable plastics for food
• Recycling of food packaging Materials
• Packaging sustainability
• Green packaging
• Food package testing
• Food package interactions
• Migration from packaging materials
• Shelf life of packaged food products
• Sensory properties of packaged foods
• Sensory changes during food storage
• Microbial stability of food during storage, handling and transportation
• Chemical, physical and microbial determinants for shelf life
• Shelf life simulation
• Shelf life and food safety
• Accelerated shelf life tests.