Smart food packaging technologies can actualize real-time, in situ food quality monitoring, increasing food safety and decreasing food waste. Here, we detail challenges that hinder the commercialization of such smart packaging systems and identify opportunities to facilitate their translation from prototype to product.
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Acknowledgements
S.K. is a recipient of a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. The Sentinel Wraps Group has been supported by NSERC Discovery Grant and Toyota Tsusho Canada Incorporated grants awarded to T.F.D. Additionally, T.F.D. is a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Nanobiomaterials.
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T.F.D. has founded and led the Sentinel Wraps consortium. S.K. prepared the initial manuscript and subsequent revisions. Z.H. offered guidance and revised the text. C.D.M.F., Y.L. and T.F.D. supervised this work throughout its generation.
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T.F.D. founded the Sentinel Wraps Group with support from core faculty members Y.L. and C.D.M.F., a consortium that seeks to actualize in-package food monitoring. We have developed several patented smart food technologies that are positioned for rapid real-world translation. Translational efforts are supported by Toyota Tsusho Canada Incorporated (TTCI), who have a global network of partners seeking to employ our systems. Key industry partners continue to support commercial scale-up assessments and initiatives.
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Khan, S., Hosseinidoust, Z., Li, Y. et al. Smart food packaging commercialization. Nat Rev Bioeng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00190-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00190-5