Novel concepts of smart/intelligent, active and eco-friendly food packaging systems, are getting much more attention these days. There have been new functionalities ascribed to the packaging, mostly derived from recent consumer's request for organic and clean-label high-quality products. This paper throws light on the current advances in antimicrobial active packaging of fresh meat and meat-based products. Among the classes of antimicrobials proposed and tested with remarkable antimicrobial power against microorganisms involved in meat spoilage and meat-borne diseases, we focused on plant-derived essential oils (EOs) and nanoparticles (NPs) as they were attractive meat protecting agents according to the literature review, we have made. The various technologies and methods for incorporating antimicrobial compounds into the package including embedding for controlled release, immobilization, and layer-by-layer deposition, photographting and their feasible approach for active meat packaging are surveyed and scrutinized. Manuscript profile

Active packaging usually means the incorporation of specific compounds with active function beyond the packaging materials to extend the shelf life of the foodstuffs. The aim of this study was the evaluation of active edible coating of sodium alginate (Alg) incorporated with coriander seed essential oil (CEO) on the shelf life of chicken fillets during cold storage. Overall, MIC and MBC values ranging from 0.5 to 5 (mg/mL) proved that Gram-positive bacteria were more susceptible to CEO than Gram-negative bacteria. Results showed that coatings of Alg had no significant effect on decreasing the microbial load of aerobic mesophilic, psychrotrophic bacteria, lactic acid, coliform bacteria as well as Staphylococcus aureus (p>0.05), while the coating of fillet with Alg/CEO showed a significant difference with the other treatments during 12 days of storage (p<0.05). The results also showed that TVBN, TBARS and peroxide formation in the samples treated by Alg/CEO was significantly lower than control group (p<0.05). Concerning organoleptic properties, the coating of Alg with 0.5% CEO scored higher in the sensory evaluation. Manuscript profile