Active Packaging (AP) technologies are being developed as a result of these driving forces.Active Packaging is an innovative concept that can be defined as a mode of packaging in which the package, the product,and the environment interact to prolong shelf life or enhance safety or sensory properties, while maintaining the quality of the product. This is particularly important in the area of fresh and extended shelf-life foods as originally described by Labuza and Breene (1989). Flores and others(1997) reviewed the products and patents in the area of AP and identified antimicrobial
(AM) packaging as one of themost promising versions of an AP system.Han (2000) and Vermeiren and others(2002) recently published articles focused on AM systems, but without a detailed discussion of some of the principal AP concepts.
The present article reviews the general principles of AP and AM packaging concepts including oxygen scavenging,
moisture absorption and control, carbondioxide and ethanol generation, and it reviews in detail AM migrating and nonmigrating systems.