Microbial growth and fluctuations in environmental conditions have been shown to cause microbial contamination and deterioration of food. Thus, it is paramount to develop reliable strategies to effectively prevent the sale and consumption of contaminated or spoiled food. Responsive packaging systems are designed to react to specific stimuli in the food or environment, such as microorganisms or temperature, then implement an informational or corrective response. Informative responsive packaging is aimed at continuously monitoring the changes in food or environmental conditions and conveys this information to the users in real time. Meanwhile, packaging systems with the capacity to control contamination or deterioration are also of great interest. Encouragingly, corrective responsive packaging attempting to mitigate the adverse effects of condition fluctuations on food has been investigated. This packaging exerts its effects through the triggered release of active agents by environmental stimuli. In this review, informative and corrective responsive packaging is conceptualized clearly and concisely. The mechanism and characteristics of each type of packaging are discussed in depth. This review also summarized the latest research progress of responsive packaging and objectively appraised their advantages. Evidently, the mechanism through which packaging systems respond to microbial contamination and associated environmental factors was also highlighted. Moreover, risk concerns, related legislation, and consumer perspective in the application of responsive packaging are discussed as well. Broadly, this comprehensive review covering the latest information on responsive packaging aims to provide a timely reference for scientific research and offer guidance for presenting their applications in food industry.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a prominent foodborne pathogen that poses a continuous threat to global public health and food safety due to its possession of a variety of toxins and its multidrug resistance. Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), notably lauric acid (LA), exhibit strong antimicrobial properties, but their application is heavily constrained by poor water solubility. In this study, optimized LA emulsions stabilized by chitosan (CS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were evaluated for their antibacterial activity and detailed mode of action against S. aureus ATCC 6538. The antibacterial activities were evaluated by the maximum inhibition zone, with the 20 CS-PVA/DLTA-LA formulation exhibiting stable dispersion and potent antibacterial activity at 1%. The underlying antibacterial mechanisms against S. aureus were specifically focused on cell membranes and peptidoglycan. Therein, the binding of emulsion droplets to the anionic bacterial surface was driven by electrostatic attraction. Membrane degradation was also observed with membrane dysfunctions involving membrane depolarization, increased permeability, and fluidity reduction triggered by their subsequent insertion into the lipid bilayer, which may cause cell dysmetabolism, disintegration, and eventual cell death. Overall, these findings substantiate that LA emulsions disrupt S. aureus by operating potentially multi-targeted effects involving cell membrane disruption and peptidoglycan interference, offering a promising alternative approach warranting further investigation for foodborne pathogen control.