Recent Advances in PH-Responsive Freshness Indicators Using Natural Food Colorants to Monitor Food Freshness

Overview

Journal Foods

Specialty Biotechnology

Date 2022 Jul 9

PMID 35804701

Authors

Danfei Liu

Changfan Zhang

Yumei Pu

Siyuan Chen

Lei Liu

Zijie Cui

Yunfei Zhong

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Recently, due to the enhancement in consumer awareness of food safety, considerable attention has been paid to intelligent packaging that displays the quality status of food through color changes. Natural food colorants show useful functionalities (antibacterial and antioxidant activities) and obvious color changes due to their structural changes in different acid and alkali environments, which could be applied to detect these acid and alkali environments, especially in the preparation of intelligent packaging. This review introduces the latest research on the progress of pH-responsive freshness indicators based on natural food colorants and biodegradable polymers for monitoring packaged food quality. Additionally, the current methods of detecting food freshness, the preparation methods for pH-responsive freshness indicators, and their applications for detecting the freshness of perishable food are highlighted. Subsequently, this review addresses the challenges and prospects of pH-responsive freshness indicators in food packaging, to assist in promoting their commercial application.

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