Bioactive Compounds and Their Potential Use as Ingredients for Food and Its Application in Food Packaging

Global market trends and government regulations promote industrial alternatives based on sustainable and efficient production processes. As a result, recent studies have focused their attention on the determination and extraction of bioactive compounds from different sources, and their inclusion as natural ingredients into different food matrices. Similarly, in the food packaging industry, new alternatives to replace synthetic plastics have become an important issue. Natural polymers, bioactive and/or biocomposite materials have been proposed as an alternative packaging technology to preserve the quality, safety, and sensory properties of food, whilst preserving the environment due to their biodegradability and renewability. This chapter aims to review the determination of different bioactive compounds and their applications as natural ingredients in the food industry. Additionally, it serves as a review of the most used and studied biocomposites of bioactive packages, along with associated advantages and disadvantages of these materials when compared to traditional packaging.