The Bombay Technologist

Additives in Polymer Packaging for Sensing Food Spoilage

Swapnil D. Patkulkar

Polymer Engineering and Technology Department

Pratiksha G. Nihul

Polymer Engineering and Technology Department

Keywords: Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, pH Indicators.

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Abstract

Food spoilage due to microorganisms is a major cause of concern to both food manufacturing and packaging industries. Shelf-life of the product cannot be accurately determined as spoilage depends on the conditions during transport and storage, which vary. Monitoring the food quality on an ongoing basis will require repeated penetration of the packaging in order to perform testing, followed by repackaging, which adds to cost of product. Hence the need of a sensor that can give us a continuous indication about the freshness of the food item without penetrating the packaging is felt. The solution can be incorporation of sensor into the packaging as an additive so that the packaging itself will help us continuously monitor the quality of food as it is in continuous contact with it. Some sensors of natural origin such as betalains, turmeric, as well as some other pH indicators give an observable colour change in presence of amines or other food degradation products. Also, Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) can be incorporated into the polymer packaging to specifically react with biogenic amines produced by food spoiling microorganisms to give a change in fluorescence emission, which can be observed using a scanner. All this will help the common man in checking the quality of the food without opening the packaging.