Application of Natural Antimicrobial Agents in Different Food Packaging Systems and Their Role in Shelf-life Extension of Food: A Review

摘要

In the present era, using natural antimicrobial agents has gained a wide recognition by consumers and the food industries alike, due to their safe nature as compared to the synthetic antibiotics that cause resistance in the microbes. These compounds have a potential to be used against broad range of microbes and food pathogens. There is a wide range of antimicrobials derived from plants, animals, and microbial sources as well as from the byproducts of food processing industry. The antimicrobial agents may be applied either directly in contact with the product or by indirect contact systems (as films, coatings, sachets and or encapsulated) of packaging. The mode of diffusion varies from one system to the other. Therefore, different packaging systems have different applications as per the requirement and or situation. The incorporation of antimicrobial agents in food packaging systems have been found to enhance the keeping quality in addition to the shelf-life extension of the food products. Despite the growing demand of the natural antimicrobials, there are certain limitations like objectionable flavors, authoritarian issues, undesirable interaction with the food components, and non-optimized standards associated with them. Hence, there are still many research gaps to be filled for commercializing or industrial applications of various types of antimicrobial agents. This article provides information about the antimicrobials from these sources along with their prospective applications in the food systems. Besides, a complete insight of their mode of application for the shelf-life enhancement in food products is also outlined.