Interaction phenomena between packaging and product

Abstract

Food packaging plays a vital role in food processing and preservation. The growing concern of consumers in food safety and quality has imparted a great deal of attention in understanding the interaction of food and packaging materials, particularly polymers. This chapter presents a detailed note on the prospective health effects of polymeric materials and their interaction phenomena including migration (from package to product), permeation (from environment through package) and sorption (from product to package), highlighting appropriate illustrations from recent research works to provide an in-depth understanding of the subject. Factors such as physicochemical characteristics of the food, package and additives used in the package, as well as environmental and storage factors like temperature and duration, and their implications are presented. The chapter also describes the mechanism and mathematical models involved in interaction phenomena. Finally, food simulants for testing and testing methods, along with legislations to be adopted, are also discussed. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018.