Advances in Smart Food Packaging for a Sustainable Future

Smart food packaging technologies are driving sustainable transformations in the food processing and packaging industries by enhancing food safety, improved supply chain efficiency and traceability, increased shelf life, and reducing food wastage. This review aims to highlight recent advances in smart food packaging, including active, intelligent, and biodegradable packaging technologies, its role in enhancing sustainability, the challenges and barriers to its adoption, and future research opportunities in the field. This work also addresses how these innovations contribute to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, and 15. This work identifies and brings out the key smart food packaging technologies, their advantages and disadvantages, most viable applications, and suitable geographical regions. For instance, time-temperature indicators (TTIs) and gas sensors are particularly effective for packaging perishable goods, especially in tropical climates. The impact of smart food packaging is further illustrated through real-world case studies, such as RipeSense® and FreshChain. The work identifies the major challenges in smart food packaging technology adoption as technological limitations, high costs, current food safety regulations, and hesitance in customer acceptance. The work also identifies future research avenues, including integration of artificial intelligence (AI), sustainable innovations, and cross-industry collaborations, in this domain.