A colorimetric hydrogen sulfide sensor based on gellan gum-silver nanoparticles bionanocomposite for monitoring of meat spoilage in intelligent packaging

A colorimetric hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) sensor based on gellan gum capped silver nanoparticles was developed to real-time monitor meat spoilage. The colorimetric sensor strategy was attributed to the ultrastrong binding ability of Ag with H₂S to form Ag₂S. The sensor enables the analysis of H₂S with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.81 μM, and it exhibited excellent selectivity toward H₂S against other volatile components generated from chicken breast and silver carp during spoilage. By these virtues, the sensor presented visible color changes from yellow to colorless by in situ and nondestructively sensing H₂S generated from chicken breast and silver carp in a packaging system. This strategy provided a simple but useful, non-destructive, robust, cost-effective, and user-friendly platform to real time monitor meat spoilage for intelligent food packaging.