Natural and Biocompatible Optical Indicators for Food Spoilage Detection

Plant phytochemicals as bio-responsive compounds in smart packaging for food spoilage detection: a comprehensive review

“…Spoilage is characterized by any unacceptable change in food's sensory properties. 11 The process of food spoilage technically involves various factors like composition of food, its water activity, its sensitivity to temperature and sunlight, 12,13 but microbial growth is the top contributor of health concerns. 14 Combinations of any trigger points of spoilage lead to growth of microbes and they release chemical substances into head space called analytes which can be toxins, mycotoxins, chemical residues, and gases.…”

Highly Porous Curcumin-Loaded Polymer Mats for Rapid Detection of Volatile Amines

“…Amines and such off-flavor compounds can alter the pH of the environment in which they are found due to their alkaline nature; therefore, a way to trace them is through pH monitoring . For this reason, the recently developed pH indicators can be introduced directly in the headspace of the food package in order to provide qualitative or semi-quantitative information of the presence of the microorganisms in the food, indicating its quality through visual colorimetric changes . To do so, molecules able to present a different hue, depending on the pH of the environment, have been investigated and used as principal components of these indicators, with natural molecules being the most recent and prevalent preference, mainly due to their biocompatible and sustainable essence. − …”

Sustainable Indicators Based on Furfural-Derived Colorant-Doped Biobased Polyurethane to Improve Food Safety

“…In such TTIs, temperature-responsive colorants (TCs) are vital components for monitoring thermal history. As biobased TCs (Figure a) possess renewability, low toxicity or nontoxicity, and pollution-free properties, exploiting them instead of those based on petroleum to prepare TTIs is an emerging trend . However, their fabrication still suffers from problems such as laborious extraction steps and low yield (usually <10%, sometimes even <1%), which hinders their applications on an industrial scale. , Besides, taking food resources from living beings and discarding TTIs after only one-time use are two other issues worth noting.…”