Intelligent Sensing and Active Packaging Systems for Sustainable Food Preservation

Globally, the food sector faces critical challenges in ensuring safety, extending shelf life, and reducing environmental impact. Conventional preservation strategies often fail to provide real-time quality assessment or continuous monitoring of spoilage throughout the food supply chain. Recent advances in non-destructive analytical technologies, including optical spectroscopy, electrochemical biosensors, colorimetric indicators, and nanoparticle-based detection platforms such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), enable rapid and non-destructive assessment of contaminants, spoilage markers, and packaging integrity. Complementing these innovations, intelligent and active packaging systems incorporating antimicrobial agents, oxygen scavengers, moisture regulators, and embedded sensing capabilities, can dynamically respond to food deterioration. In parallel, nanostructured edible coatings and bionanocomposite materials offer sustainable barriers against environmental stressors. This topic aims to advance integrated sensing and preservation strategies for next-generation sustainable food systems.This research topic addresses the growing need for integrated approaches that simultaneously enable real-time food safety monitoring, shelf-life extension, quality preservation, and waste reduction across the food supply chain. Specifically, this collection will explore how non-destructive detection technologies, including SERS, colorimetric indicators, optical spectroscopy, and electrochemical sensors, can be integrated with intelligent packaging films, active preservation systems, and nanostructured antimicrobial materials to create adaptive and responsive food preservation platforms. By bringing together expertise in analytical spectroscopy, electrochemical sensing, food packaging engineering, nanomaterial synthesis, and sustainable material design, this topic aims to establish a comprehensive framework for next-generation intelligent packaging systems that improve food safety, maintain nutritional quality, and support sustainability goals. The collection will further highlight key challenges and opportunities related to scalability, industrial translation, regulatory compliance, food-contact safety, biodegradability, and data-driven monitoring technologies, as well as predictive and digital approaches for future food preservation applications.This research topic welcomes original research and review articles addressing the following themes:• Non-destructive analytical techniques for real-time food quality and safety assessment, including SERS, electrochemical biosensors, optical spectroscopy, and colorimetric indicator systems.• Intelligent packaging systems with embedded sensing capabilities for spoilage detection and contaminant monitoring, incorporating colorimetric, electrochemical, or SERS-based platforms.• Active packaging systems designed to extend shelf life and maintain nutritional quality through antimicrobial films, oxygen scavengers, and moisture regulators.• Nanotechnology applications in food packaging and preservation, encompassing nanostructured antimicrobial surfaces, edible coatings, and bionanocomposites, with consideration of safety, toxicological profiles, and regulatory compliance.• Translational and scalability studies evaluating industrial feasibility and real-world deployment of these technologies across the food supply chain.Topic Editor Dr. Vimala Bharathi is employed by TerraVerdae BioWorks. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject. Topic editors: Heera Jayan, Vimala S K Bharathi Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81482/intelligent-sensing-and-active-packaging-systems-for-sustainable-food-preservation