Colorimetric Food Freshness Indicators for Intelligent Packaging: Progress, Shortcomings, and Promising Solutions
The colorimetric food freshness indicator (CFFI) is a promising technology in intelligent food packaging, offering the capability for real-time monitoring of food freshness through colorimetric changes. This technology holds significant promise in mitigating food waste and enhancing transparency across the supply chain. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the classification system for the CFFI, encompassing colorimetric films and sensor arrays. It explores their applications across key perishable food categories, including meats, seafoods, fruits, and vegetables. Furthermore, this paper offers an in-depth analysis of three critical challenges currently hindering technological advancement: safety concerns, stability issues, and limitations in sensitivity and selectivity. In addressing these challenges, this paper proposes forward-looking solutions and outlines potential research directions aimed at overcoming these bottlenecks, thereby fostering substantial progress in the development of this field.
Authors
- Gobinath Marappan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8393-2270)
- Haroon Elrasheid Tahir (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3452-3857)
- Wonjin Ban
- Xiaowei Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3275-9527)
- Xiaodong Zhai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4906-7292)
- Wenwu Zou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7569-0251)
- Jaroslav Katona (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4593-0554)
- Liang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2279-2657)
- Biao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6920-7016)
- Kai Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6336-7836)
- Zhilong Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6956-4849)
- Xingdan Ma
- Yue Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7135-7427)
- Yuhong Xue
- Zhikun Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5798-0327)
Institutions
- Jiangsu University (CN)
- University of Novi Sad (RS)
- Wenzhou Institute of Industrial Science (CN)
- Yangzhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Foods
- Published
- 2025-08-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14162813
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.09
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Government of Jiangsu Province
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province
- National Key Research and Development Program of China