Active packaging is a new development that can interact with the product to improve it provide the consumer with information about the freshness of the product. An American company has developed a label that indicates the temperature a package has been stored at. A chemical in the label polymerizes and becomes darker in colour if the temperature rises.
Another company has develoed a membrane wrapper which changes its permeability to oxygen and carbon dioxide as the temperature changes so that the best O2/CO2 balance can be achieved inside the packaging