encourage leading e antimicrobial activity of the packaging system, such as refrigeratio the antimicrobial effectiveness will be increased, however, generally refrigeration not necessary when all ofthe system factors satisfy the requirements. Refrig may be very effective in inhibiting the growth of untargeted micro- (unexpected. ) organisms "the initial concentration ofmicrobiocidal antimicrobial Systems slow than the mic. of the target micro-organisms, -and the concentration has never been above the mic, the agent may show a microbiostatic instead of a microbiocidal effect. Therefore, it is very important. to maintain the antimicrobial concentraton above the mic-for certain critical periods to eliminate the target micro-organisms. If the package has hermetically Sealed, the packaged foods may not contain lve any micro-organisms even when the concentration decreases to below them.Lc. dueto he migration or loss of the agent after the critical period
Microbiostatic
Microbiostatic agents can inhibit the growth of micro-organisms above a certain crit t ical concentration (iemlc). However, when the concentration Blower than the crt- ical concentration, or when the. agents removed trom the packaging Systems through a Seal defect, leakage, opening or any other means, the Suppressed micro-organisms can grow or their Spores germinate. Therefore, itis critical to maintain the concentra tion ofthe antimicrobial agent above the mic during the entire shelflifeo. As e pack aged hods Chemical indicators that show the concentration or microbial growth would be very beneficial in microstatic antimicrobial packaging systems, and this isa concept of intelligent packaging (Rodrigues and Han, 2003).