The migration of chemical compounds from packaging polymers to food presents a multifaceted challenge with implications for food safety and public health. This review explores the interaction between packaging materials and food products, focusing on permeation, migration, and sorption processes. The different migration mechanisms of contact migration, gas phase migration, penetration migration, set-off migration, and condensation/distillation migration have been discussed comprehensively. The major migrating compounds are plasticizers, nanoparticles, antioxidants, light stabilizers, thermal stabilizers, monomers, oligomers, printing inks, and adhesives, posing potential health risks due to their association with endocrine disruption and carcinogenic effects. Advanced analytical methods help in the monitoring of migrated compounds, facilitating compliance with regulatory standards. Regulatory agencies enforce guidelines to limit migration, prompting the development of barrier coatings and safer packaging alternatives. Furthermore, there is a need to decipher the migration mechanism for mitigating it along with advancements in analytical techniques for monitoring the migration of compounds.

This study aimed to compare the untreated, cold plasma (CP)‐optimized (30 kV/5 mm/6.7 min), CP‐extreme (30 kV/2 mm/10 min), and thermally treated (TT) (90 ℃/5 min) kiwifruit juices based on the physicochemical (pH, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), total color change (ΔE)), physical (particle size and rheology), microstructure (optical microscope), bioactive compounds (polyphenol, ascorbic acid, and sugar compounds), and sensory characteristics of kiwifruit juice. The pH, TSS, and TA were not significantly affected in CP and TT juice, whereas the ΔE (6.52) of TT juice lies in the range of “greatly visible.” The microstructure characteristics of juice significantly changed after CP and thermal treatment. The cell and tissue disruption in CP‐extreme and thermally treated juice was more than CP‐optimized. The particle size of juice decreased irrespective of treatment, but the span value of CP‐optimized juice was the lowest. Further, the CP treatment showed a lower consistency index, apparent viscosity, and pseudoplasticity of juice than the thermal treatment. The CP‐treated juice retained bioactive and nutritional attributes more than thermally treated juice. The CP‐optimized, CP‐extreme, and thermal treatment reduced the sucrose content by 54, 55, and 23%, while the fructose and glucose content were increased by 17, 12, & 93%, and 17, 11 & 99%, respectively. Among the CP‐treated juice, CP‐optimized (71.36 mg/100g) contained a higher amount of ascorbic acid than the CP‐extreme (64.36 mg/100g). Based on the similarity values in the fuzzy logic analysis, the sensory attributes of CP‐optimized treated juice were superior to CP‐extreme and thermal treated. Practical Application: In this era, non‐thermal processing techniques are trending for retaining the nutrition and stability of juice. The old plasma (CP)‐treated kiwifruit juice had better nutritional, bioactive compounds, and sensory attributes than the thermally treated juice. Further, the CP‐treated juice had higher flowability and lower viscosity, making it ideal for juice processing. The conclusions drawn suggest that CP processing is a better alternative for processing kiwifruit juice than thermal processing.