Consumer demand for mildly preserved, minimally processed,
easily prepared and ready-to-eat “fresher” foods – together with
the globalization of the food business, and the logistics of distribution
from processing centers – pose major challenges for food
quality and safety [1,2]. A reduction in shelf life of foods as a
result of microbial contamination and an increase in the risk of
food-borne illness are driving forces for innovative means to monitor
microbial growth in the foods while enhancing food safety.
Moreover, food traceability is now a legal requirement, especially
in the European Union. This establishes a chain of responsibility
throughout the entire food supply chain. Consequently there
is great interest among the food industry, retailers, consumers’
rights watchdogs, and food safety controlling bodies in developing
accurate, cost-effective, rapid, reliable, non-invasive and
non-destructive methods or devices to evaluate real-time freshness
of food products. An alternative concept to meet this requirement
is the development of intelligent packaging in the form of a food
spoilage indicator to monitor freshness status. In addition to the
development of a food spoilage indicator, the detection of chemical
changes associated with microbial growth in food products can
offer an alternative to sensory and microbiological analyses which
are often costly and time-consuming