Novel food packaging technologies arose as a result of consumer’s desire for convenient, ready to eat, tasty and mild processed food products with extended shelf life and maintained quality. Recent trend of lifestyle changes with less time for consumers to prepare foods posed a great challenge toward food packaging sector for the evolution of novel and innovative food packaging techniques. The novel food packaging techniques, viz. active packaging, intelligent packaging and bio active packaging which involve intentional interaction with the food or its surroundings and influence on consumer’s health have been the major innovations in the field of packaging technology. These novel techniques act by prolonging the shelf life, enhancing or maintaining the quality, providing indication and to regulate freshness of food product. The advancement in novel food packaging technologies involves retardation in oxidation, hindered respiratory process, prevention of microbial attack, prevention of moisture infusion, use of CO2 scavengers/emitters, ethylene scavengers, aroma emitters, time-temperature sensors, ripeness indicators, biosensors and sustained release of antioxidants during storage. The novel food packaging technologies besides the basic function of containment increase the margin of food quality and safety. The novel food packaging techniques thus help in fulfilling the demands throughout the food supply chain by gearing up toward persons own lifestyle. The main objectives of this review article are to provide basic knowledge of different new and innovative food packaging techniques about their way of preservative action, effectiveness and suitability in various types of foods

The present study was undertaken to determine the physico-chemical properties (moisture content, reducing sugars, proline content, electrical conductivity, ash content, pH, titrable acidity, HMF, water activity, total soluble solids and total solids), enzymatic activity (diastase and invertase),...

Corn silk has long been thought of as a waste product; however, due to its numerous therapeutic attributes, it has remarkably gained popularity in Asian and African countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the bioactivity of dried corn silk powder (Zea mays, G5417) in terms of its physicochemical and bio-functional characteristics. The protein (15.29 ± 1.23) and ash (5.29 ± 0.29) contents in the corn silk powder were found to be high. The high phenolic content (94.10 ± 0.26 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid content (163.93 ± 0.83 mg QE/100 g) are responsible for its high antioxidant activity. The corn silk powder showed 45.40 ± 0.92% FRSA, 75.25 ± 0.59 TEAC mg/gdw of ABTS, and 86.77 ± 0.88% of FRAP. FT-IR spectroscopy revealed stretching, bending, and vibrations of abundantly present polysaccharides and protein functional groups. Moreover, the DSC thermograph revealed the exothermic reactions at on-set temperature (T_onset) = 21.9 °C and end temperature (T_endset) = 102.80 °C, and exothermic reactions at on-set temperature (T_onset) = 252.02 °C, end temperature (T_endset) = 296.80 °C, and denaturation peak temperature (T_peak) = 277.48 °C, whereas XRD (2θ = 21.5°) confirmed the amorphous nature of the corn silk powder. Therefore, due to the potential bioactivity and thermal stability, dry corn silk powder can be scaled up at an industrial level.

The aim of the study was to characterize four unique varieties of honey (saffron, apple, cherry and Plectranthus rugosus) from Kashmir valley of India on the basis of physico-chemical parameters (moisture content, pH, hydroxymethylfurfural, water activity, proline content, invertase and diastase activity) and carbohydrate profile. Also the effect of temperature (0, 5, 10, 20 and 30°C) on rheological properties of all unique honey varieties was studied. All the physicochemical parameters studied were significantly different (P<0.05) among all honey varieties. Eleven types of sugars were identified and quantified by HPLC which include three monosaccharides, four disaccharides and four trisaccharides. The presence of carbohydrates in all analyzed honey varieties was further confirmed by obtaining a band from 1400 to 750cm−1 which corresponds to the most sensitive absorption region of the sugars by using FTIR–ATR. All the honey samples displayed a Newtonian fluid behavior, with loss modulus (G″) very much greater than storage modulus (G′) which confirmed the dominancy of viscous nature in all honey varieties