Time Temperature Indicators (TTIs) in food packaging

Journal of Food and Clinical Nutrition is a peer reviewed open access journal. It is a bimonthly journal. Effective management and control of the cold chain by application of Time Temperature Indicators (TTIs) in food packaging is a Review article which was published in volume 1 and issue 1 of our journal.

Different temperature conditions cause unreliable printed shelf lives [best before dates] and food waste. As a result, in the EU, the percentage of food losses in food manufacturing is up to 39%, and a further 5% along the distribution chain. The United Nations have agreed to work towards the achievement of a more sustainable world by 2030 and the reduction of food waste is one of the targets.

One of the most dominant aspects affecting the quality of chilled food is the storage temperature. In short-living foodstuffs, such as dairy products, raw meat and fish, sellers should pay more attention towards the elimination of wrong storage temperature, as it is essential to maintain the cold chain below 5°C or at the temperature that is indicated on the products’ label as required by the producer.

Nowadays, refrigeration is one of the most widely practiced method of preserving fresh foods and the improper use of this process can increase the potential risk that microbial hazards will advance and this in turn can lead to food poisoning. As a result, temperature controls along cold food supply chains are crucial for maintaining food quality and ensuring the safety of food products.

There are many different ways that cold chain can be effectively managed and controlled. One of them, the Time Temperature Indicators [TTIs] have the benefit of being low cost and can be easily integrated in packaging. TTIs are easily measurable “smart labels”, which visually reflect the temperature history of the food products depending on time and temperature changes. This is why they can be extensively used in food packaging. As it becomes apparent, implementing a TTI-based mechanism in food packaging could lead to a better monitoring of the cold chain, development of stock rotation, reduction of food waste and ultimately effective shelf-life management.

As it can be concluded from the discussion above, during transportation food products are not maintained in a standard temperature and this can cause spoilage of the transported food. The cold chain participants play a key for consumers’ health, as they can maintain and control food’s microbial load in low levels by taking simple temperature measurements through the cold chain and by keeping accurate temperature records.

Active and intelligent packaging decreases the number of retailer and consumer complaints and appears to offer satisfactory solutions in enhancing food safety. There are still a number of critical aspects, such as economics, legislation (e.g. migration of components from packaging materials and labelling) and consumers preferences, which need to be taken into account and further research to be conducted for the successful application of the intelligent packaging solutions in the industry.

Intelligent packages with applied TTI keep track of the temperature throughout the cold chain and seem to be the future of packaging. The easy use of TTI can cause less food waste while protecting consumer health more efficiently.

Journal of Food and Clinical Nutrition announce articles for the upcoming issue of our journal

Interested can submit their manuscript through online portal

Submit manuscript at  https://www.pulsus.com/submissions/food-clinical-nutrition.html or through mail at foodclinnutri@eclinjournals.com

For membership contact:

Media contact:

Maegan Smith                                                                                                                                  

Managing Editor

Journal of Food and Clinical Nutrition 

Mail ID: clinicalnutrition@emedicalsci.org

WhatsApp no: + 1-504-608-2390