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Abstract

In contrary to traditional packaging which serves merely as passive barrier designed to delay adverse effects of the environment on packaged item, active food packaging aims to protect the product against oxidation, moisture, light and microbiological contamination during transport, storage, sale and use. Active packaging may contain various functional additives such as antioxidants, antibacterial, antifungal and ripening agents to reduce food degradation and extend shelf life. These additives might be unstable and get released too fast. Cyclodextrins can help to improve these properties via inclusion complex formation. This chapter intends to give an overview on application of cyclodextrins and their complexes in active packaging to show the usefulness of these cyclic carbohydrates in many roles improving the performance of packaging. Packaging may contain “empty” cyclodextrins capable of entrapping migrating compounds, reducing release of plasticizers and other harmful compounds, scavenging odor and removing unwanted components. The other types of packaging contain cyclodextrins “filled” with actives (these are inclusion complexes) providing protection for the encapsulated preservatives from loss on heat during preparation and ensuring controlled-release for a long time. The trigger for release is humidity, making these materials especially useful for packaging moisture-containing food items. Flavor-releasing films, antimicrobial and antioxidant packaging represent the main fields of applications of cyclodextrin complexes incorporated into packaging.

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Correspondence to Éva Fenyvesi .

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Fenyvesi, É., Puskás, I., Szente, L. (2021). Encapsulation for Packaging. In: Ho, T.M., Yoshii, H., Terao, K., Bhandari, B.R. (eds) Functionality of Cyclodextrins in Encapsulation for Food Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80056-7_11

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