Recent Advances in Sustainable Antimicrobial Food Packaging: Insights into Release Mechanisms, Design Strategies, and Applications in the Food Industry

In response to the issues of foodborne microbial contaminationand carbon neutrality goals, sustainable antimicrobial food packaging(SAFP) composed of renewable or biodegradable biopolymer matriceswith ecofriendly antimicrobial agents has emerged. SAFP offers longereffectiveness, wider coverage, more controllability, and better environmentalperformance. Analyzing SAFP information, including the release profileof each antimicrobial agent for each food, the interaction of eachbiomass matrix with each food, the material size, form, and preparationmethods, and its service quality in real foods, is crucial. Whileencouraging reports exist, a comprehensive review summarizing thesedevelopments is lacking. Therefore, this review critically examinesrecent release-antimicrobial mechanisms, kinetics models, preparationmethods, and key regulatory parameters for SAFPs based on slow- orcontrolled-release theory. Furthermore, it discusses fundamental physicochemicalcharacteristics, effective concentrations, advantages, release approaches,and antimicrobial and preservative effects of various materials infood simulants or actual food. Lastly, inadequacies and future trendsare explored, providing practical references to regulate the movementof active substances in different media, reduce the reliance on petrochemical-basedmaterials, and advance food packaging and preservation technologies.