Scalping of Flavors in Packaged Foods

Food packaging, although an integral part of the food chain, has a major drawback in that, often, the packaging material interacts with the flavor constituents of the food, causing either a selective or an extensive loss of desirable food flavors or absorption of undesirable off-flavors from the packaging material, thereby resulting in an eventual loss of quality of the packaged food item. The process is called “scalping” and is of great concern to the food industry, which is always looking out for new avenues in “packaging solutions” for its final product quality needs. The review highlights the various attributes of the scalping process, explores approaches to the reduction of the manifested undesirable effects, and covers other relevant aspects.