Post by Srinivas Janaswamy, Ph.D., PMP

#Foodwaste, #foodsafety, and #plasticpollution remain major challenges for food systems worldwide. Addressing these issues will require #packaging materials that function as more than a #passivebarrier between food and its #environment. Our review article, "Natural Hydrogels for Active, Intelligent and Smart Food Packaging: Advances, Challenges, and Future Perspectives," (https://lnkd.in/gSpRkzts) has been published in Food Packaging and Shelf Life. https://lnkd.in/gD6-284e #Natural #hydrogels have attracted increasing attention for sustainable food packaging because they are #biodegradable and can be engineered to respond to #environmentalchanges. In this review, we examine recent advances in the use of natural hydrogels for #active, #intelligent, and #smart #foodpackaging systems. Topics covered in the review include: • The use of hydrogel-based materials as alternatives to conventional #plasticpackaging. • Packaging systems that indicate spoilage through responses to pH, temperature, humidity, and volatile compounds. • Approaches for improving #mechanicalproperties, #stability, and functionality through #nanocomposite design and network engineering. • Challenges that must be addressed before large-scale adoption, including #manufacturing, #regulatory, and #economic considerations. The review also highlights future research directions, including #biomimeticmaterials, #multifunctional sensing systems, and scalable manufacturing approaches that could support broader adoption of #hydrogel based packaging technologies. I am grateful to my collaborator Prof. Guangjun Nie, and the co-authors, Siyu Cheng, Yu Wang, Ting Wang, Chuang Li, Dandan Li, for their contributions to this work. I hope this review will be useful to researchers and industry professionals working on the development of safer and more #sustainable food packaging systems. The article is available free of charge for the next 50 days: https://lnkd.in/gExyTngY #FoodPackaging #SmartPackaging #SustainablePackaging #Hydrogels #FoodScience #FoodInnovation #Biomaterials #CircularEconomy #FoodSafety #Research