FABRICATION OF pH-RESPONSIVE BIODEGRADABLE SMART PACKAGING INCORPORATING ANTHOCYANINS

Abstract Objectives: Humans require food to survive. Consequently, the food business is constantly growing and reaching its zenith. The food sector places a lot of importance on food packaging, as it is an art, science, and technology for the safe and cost-effective delivery of goods to final customers. Food is packaged to protect it from microbes, dust, physical damage, odour, and other hazards. Recent advancements in food packaging include smart packaging that is designed to improve food safety, quality, and shelf life. Methods: In this study, anthocyanin was extracted from red cabbage and incorporated into a chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol mixture to form a pH sensitive biodegradable smart packaging material. Findings: The smart packaging material shows significant structural, barrier, and functional properties. The FTIR results exhibit the presence of medium intensity C-N, C-H, and O-H bonding’s. The material also showed 23% water solubility and water transmission rate of 0.07 g/m2, which is needed for good packaging material. Further, the biodegradability test of the smart packaging material proves to have a high degradation capacity of 82%. Thus, the developed pH sensitive biodegradable smart packaging material is safe, non-toxic, biodegradable, and it can monitor the freshness and deterioration of food in real time without opening the package and preserve food for a longer time. Novelty: This study explores a biodegradable, pH-sensitive smart packaging material formulated with red cabbage anthocyanins, chitosan, and polyvinyl alcohol. Unlike traditional packaging, this innovative material can visually indicate food freshness in real time while being environmentally friendly and highly degradable. Its enhanced barrier properties and structural stability offer a promising sustainable alternative to synthetic food packaging.