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 Chapter 8

Intelligent and Smart Packaging

Marcello Nicoletti and Paola Del Serrone
Marcello Nicoletti and Paola Del Serrone
Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.68773

Abstract

Urgent need of increased food production and availability are crucial in humankind
future. A key aspect concerns the food preservation, wherein packaging is a main aspect.
Packaging is still in a primitive form, utilized as a way to separate food from environmen-
tal conditions, not considering the inside situation. Improvement of packaging means
less cost, more food available, and waste decrease. Several solutions are emerging to face
this challenge. They are focused on three aspects: the antimicrobial agent; the packag-
ing material; and the technological implication in the final production of packaging.
Biotechnology is expected to play a central role in the future food to solve central points,
as retain integrity and actively prevent food spoilage. In this phase, several projects are
moving, still waiting to converge in adequate products. The galaxy of smart packaging
is rapidly moving and increasing in researches. This phase represents a chaotic period
of several proposals production and tentative in solving the food preservative problems,
using new technologies and advanced techniques, like nanotechnology. Waiting the
collapse into a central paradigm, it is interesting and useful to follow the scenario of
researches on smart packaging based on natural products here reported.

Keywords: packaging, food waste, food shelf life, food-borne pathogens, food
preservation

1. Introduction

‘Feed the Planet. Energy for life’ was the theme of World Expo 2015 in Milan city that tackled
the great problem of sustainable progress and production of future foods. The event projected
the feeding as main challenge for humankind and showed the extreme urgency of elements
of innovation in technology and science connected to the field of food, in order to contrast
feed problems that still today plague several areas of the world. Food production is growing
rapidly, as a result of the increasing demand. The global meat production and consumption
are supposed to increase from 233 million tonnes (2000) to 300 million tonnes (2020), and milk

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144 Future Foods

from 568 to 700 million tonnes over the same period. Egg production should also increase by
30% [1]. The challenge is the possibility of production of enough food for the incoming seven
billions of human inhabitants of the planet.
This forecast shows in particular a massive increase in animal protein demand, needed to sat-
isfy the growth in the human population, wherein billions of people ask for an increase of
caloric input and better food. The considerable and increasing demand for animal protein is
focusing attention on the sources of feed protein and their suitability, quality, and safety for
future supply. In addition the quantitative production aspect, there will be a need for consider-
able increase in feed manufacture, requiring a thriving, successful and modern feed industry,
including a key aspect concerning the protection and preservation of the produced and mar-
keted food.

This aspect is strictly related to the safety issues, which will remain paramount in the mind of
consumers following recent food crises. Continuing investment is needed in quality assurance
programs to gain market access for animal products and to retain consumer confidence [2].

Biotechnology is expected to play a central role in the future food, in order to solve central
points, as to retain integrity and actively prevent food spoilage (shelf life). Nowadays, pack-
aging is still mainly a primitive form to separate food from environmental conditions, not
considering the inside situation. Increase of the shelf life means reduction of cost and waste.
Nowadays, simple material made of paper or plastic are used for packaging. These materials
are main part of waste in industrial country and the cost for recycling is increasing as well
as the damages to the marine environmental. ‘Smart packaging’ is focusing the interest in
possible solutions. Smartness packaging covers a number of functional methods that can be
tailored depending on the product being packaged, including several types of food, beverages,
pharmaceuticals, household products, etc. Examples of current and future functional ‘smart-
ness’ would be in packages that can not only actively prevent food spoilage (to add shelf life)
but can also face other aspects in order to reduce the food waste, and eventually maintain, and
enhance product attributes (e.g. look, taste, flavor, aroma, etc.), responding actively to changes
in product or package environment, confirming product authenticity, and acting to counter
theft.

2. Smartness and packaging

The galaxy of smart packaging is rapidly moving and increasing in research and proposals.
We can consider this phase as a period of production of several proposals and tentative in
solving the food preservative problems, using new technologies and advanced techniques
recently available, like Nanotechnology and Molecular Biology. Waiting the collapse into a
central paradigm, it is interesting and useful to follow the scenario of research on the subject
and the lines of different emerging products.
The novel sustainable solutions in packaging must consider the need for ensuring the safety
and quality of food and reducing losses and minimize the environmental impact. As a matter
 Intelligent and Smart Packaging 145
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of fact, food packaging plays a crucial role not only in preserving food during distribution
and storage from farm to fork but it also contributes to the generation of waste. The aim of
modern food packaging systems is focused on the potential capacity to extend the shelf life
of perishable foods, by reducing the need for additives and preservatives, and at the same
time considering changes in quality. Several methods and approaches, like oxygen scaveng-
ing and antimicrobial technologies associated to the production of modified films, are actu-
ally considered.

A broad classification of packaging of food can be comprised into four types: Passive, Active,
Intelligent, and Smart packaging [3]. They are different solutions to serve the basic and funda-
mental properties of package: protect, preserve, and present. So far, the dominant packaging
is the basic one, based on low-cost material and no interaction with the inside food. In this
passive packaging, the traditional packaging systems are included, as the use of covering
material, characterized by some inherent insulating, protective, or ease of handling qualities.
Usually, the ordinary packaging is not able to preserve the food and is a source of a great
quantity of waste with enormous damage to the environment. This situation is increasing in
consideration of the growing of consumers in emerging countries, where these consequences
are not adequately considered. The packaging is considered active, when the package can
interact in same way and/or react to various stimuli, in order to keep the internal environment
favorable for the maintenance of the quality of the products. Several environmental, biotic
and abiotic factors must be considered, in order to face positively the degradation process.
The involved activity could be the presence of oxygen scavenger (an oxygen scavenger can
absorb high-energy oxygen inside a package and therefore increase the shelf life of product)
or anti-ROS (scavenger of radicals by oxygen or other origins) activity. Smart packaging relies
on the use of chemicals, electrical, electronic or mechanical technology or any combinations
of them. In particular, smart packaging involves the use of technology that adds feature such
that packaging becomes an irreplaceable part of the whole product. According to what above
reported, interest in the use of active and intelligent packaging systems for agricultural fresh
products has increased in recent years. Active packaging refers to the incorporation of addi-
tives into packaging systems, with the aim of maintaining or extending fresh vegetable or
livestock products quality and shelf life, while intelligent packaging systems are those that
monitor the condition of packaged foods to give information regarding the quality of the
packaged food during transport and storage [4].
Besides, the development of intelligent packaging system through the use of sensor technolo-
gies indicators (including integrity, freshness, and time-temperature indicators (TTI)) and
radio frequency identification (RFID) has been evaluated for potential use in meat and meat
products.

The active and smart packaging performs additional functions to the basic one and can be
supported by intelligent packaging solutions. Intelligent packaging refers to the introduction
of innovations in the design of packaging, with conveniences for the user and usefulness for
the consumer or firms in the supply chain. In this way, the product can respond to stimuli
generated by the environment or from the product being packaged. It reflects the change in a
manner that makes the product more available, more useful, and more long life [5–7].
146 Future Foods

3. Reduce food waste by retaining integrity and preventing food spoilage

A large quantity of food is lost or wasted throughout the supply chain, from initial agricultural
production down to final household consumption. It has been estimated that as much as half of
all food grown is lost or wasted before and after it reaches the consumer [8]. That refers to the
high perishable food as fresh fruit and vegetables (FFVs) and livestock products. Approximately
one-third of all FFVs produced worldwide are lost along food supply chain (FSC) production [9].
High loss rates are associated with a lack of packing houses in India, with FFVs generally packed
in the field and some even transported without transit packaging [10]. Food waste occurs at dif-
ferent points in the FSC. Market evolution in reducing waste has enormous potential to develop
FSC infrastructure and reduce waste in developing and BRIC (this grouping acronym refers to
the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China), considering some differences. Significant losses
occur even early in the food supply chains in the industrialized regions and the last step of selling.
On the other side, in low-income countries, food is lost mostly during the early and middle stages
of the food supply chain due to deterioration; much less food is wasted at the consumer level. It
is important to consider that many countries of Africa were totally auto-sufficient in food produc-
tions and limited but efficient distribution. Nowadays, food is not anymore sufficient in several
parts of Africa, generating massive migrations of humans toward Europe as never reported in his-
tory records. Among the possible causes there is wrong utilization of technology’s opportunities.

4. The microorganisms attack

The quality of food is a complex argument. Nowadays food is the final step of a complex series
of events, changing radically the nature of the starting material. The ordinary consumers can-
not acquire the quality of most of the food available, but it is the most important element of
food. Most of the available food cannot be consumed directly after the production and there-
fore needs a form of maintenance. During the packaging, the storage, and the shelf life, food is
subjected to the attack of microorganisms. These microorganisms are programmed to demolish
progressively the molecular structure of the food, as soon and as completely as possible. It is
only a matter of time, every structure once living is subjected to be destroyed and converted to
be reutilized into a new molecular vivant structure. Food is only the intermediate step between
the different forms of life. In other words, the good food is in completion with its recycling,
and, working on this limbo, we can be able to efficiently utilize the food, when it is still avail-
able. The intermediate step must help to be more efficient than the molecular demolition gen-
erated by bacteria. Therefore, in preserving the food, we are working in a thermodynamically
unfavorable situation. This usually means cost for low temperature or for disinfection or other
methods to retard the bacterial attack. To the biotic factors, we must add the abiotic factors such
as humidity and oxygen present in the air. The preserving solution mainly consists of the use of
plastic packaging. Once again the solution is not sustainable and terrible in the long-term con-
sequences. As a matter of fact, plastic is covering our planet and causing immense damages to
any type of environment. On the other side, low temperature and other forced environmental
conditions means a relevant need of energy and consequent considerable cost.
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The traditional concept of packaging, in sense of material projected to protect food from phys-
ical, chemical, and biological risks, can be overcome. The modified atmosphere or vacuum has
led to the diffusion of ‘active packaging’, systems capable of interacting dynamically with the
food and/or with the atmosphere in order to save the healthiness of the product and extend its
shelf life. New attempts of solutions are starting from the concept of intelligent and interactive
packaging. Once again, nowadays the cost of these types of packaging are not competitive,
but the next future will ask for these solutions as necessary and indispensable [11].

5. The after production and food maintaining

Therefore, loss of food derived by contamination of food and spoilage by microorganisms

is a major concern to food industries, involving directly consumers and indirectly govern-
ment authorities. The reduction of these losses is recognized as an important component of
improved food security [12]. In developing and emerging economies, this would require mar-
ket-led large-scale investment in agricultural infrastructure, technological skills and knowl-
edge, storage, transport, and distribution in order to reduce food waste in terms of food losses
(decrease in food quantity) and of food spoilage (decrease in food quality), as well of food
safety (spread of food-borne diseases).
The technologies used to increase the storage time and to ensure the safe consumption of
highly perishable products, such as meat, have undergone a continuous evolution over
the time [13–15]. Besides, the diffusion of active packaging, systems capable of interacting
dynamically with the food and/or with the atmosphere in order to save the healthiness of
the product and to extend its shelf life, is increasing [16]. The need to use materials, more
sustainable and more compatible with food, creates a new market and leads to an intense
research of natural substances usable for the production of biodegradable wrapping and
edible coatings.
The effectiveness of these systems has been improved by the use of film activated by antibac-
terial substances and chemical or natural preservatives slow release. In recent years, inter-
est in the production and use of active, as well as intelligent packaging systems for meat
and meat products, has increased [17, 18]. Also the incorporation of natural antimicrobial
substances into edible films has attracted great interest as alternative to control or reducing
the growth of food-borne and spoilage microorganisms [19]. Higher consumer acceptance
and the economically viable packaging systems are necessary to realize of these packaging
technologies. The effectiveness of these systems was improved with the use of antibacterial
substances to activate films using chemical or natural preservatives slow release. The shelf life
and the safety of foods, especially those processed, are increased by antimicrobial packaging
(AP) active against spoilage microorganisms and/or pathogens [20, 21].
The technologies used to increase the storage time and to ensure the safe consumption of
highly perishable products are in continuous evolution over the time, in response to the needs
of consumers and industry, and availability of new solutions based on advancement in scien-
tific knowledge and technological advancements.
148 Future Foods

It needs to consider some limitations and cautions in the use of antimicrobials for meat preser-
vation including inactivation of compounds on contact with the meat surface or dispersion of
compounds from the surface into the meat mass. There are several mechanisms concerning this
aspect, including incorporation of bactericidal compounds into meat products, resulting into
their partial alteration by muscle components known to affect significantly the efficacy of the
antimicrobial substances and their release. Therefore, physicochemical characteristics of muscle
could alter the activity of antimicrobials. Furthermore, water activity of the meat could influ-
ence the antimicrobial activity and chemical stability of incorporated active substances.
When organoleptic changes occur and makes muscle foods unacceptable to the consumer,
meat loss quality is considered spoiled. Contamination by microorganisms is of the main
causes for organoleptic spoilage. Food package contributes to an easier distribution and pro-
tects food from environmental conditions, such as light, oxygen, moisture, microorganisms,
mechanical injuries, and dust. Through the application of active packaging systems, these
conditions can be regulated in several ways and, depending on the requirements of the pack-
aged food, food deterioration can be significantly reduced.

Antimicrobial packaging (AP) is a type of active packaging and represents a promising solu-
tion, especially tailored to improve safety and to delay spoilage. Antimicrobials can be coated,
incorporated, immobilized, or surface modified onto package materials. The AP development
is limited, due to availability of antimicrobials and new polymer materials, regulatory con-
cerns, and appropriate testing methods. Future work must focus on the use of biologically
active derived antimicrobial compounds bound to polymers. The need for new antimicrobials
with wide spectrum of activity and low toxicity will increase [22].
Plant-derived extracts (PDE) represent good candidates for antimicrobial packaging. It is pos-
sible that research and development of ‘intelligent’ or ‘smart’ antimicrobial packages will
follow. These will be materials that sense the presence of microorganism in the food, trigger-
ing antimicrobial mechanisms, as a response in a controlled manner. Success of AP technolo-
gies for food applications is related to participation and collaboration of research institutions,
industry, and government regulatory agencies.

The need to use materials more sustainable and more compatible with food represents a new
market and leads to an intense activity in the study of natural substances for the production of
biodegradable wrapping and edible coatings. The exploration of plant-derived antimicrobi-
als should be an innovative way to find new alternative substances for food preservation via
active packaging. Furthermore, the use of natural antimicrobial products derived from plant
is important because they are tolerable for the consumer. The exploration of plant-derived
antimicrobials represents an innovative way to find new alternative substances as food pre-
servatives for active packaging [23].
The idea is that the exploration of PDE as preservatives can provide an innovative way to find
new alternative substances for meat preservation. The use of PDE as antimicrobial has been
already reported and is important since they represent a lower perceived risk to the consumer
as well consumer’s demand for minimally processed, preservative free products increases.
To be suitable, the antimicrobial PDE should be cheap, ecologically acceptable, and target
tailored, besides being effective [24, 25].
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The International Life Sciences Institute-Europe produced a comprehensive document on the

use of plant materials in food products [26]. The report stresses that the ingredient for use in
food products must be well identified and characterized. Accurately identification of the start-
ing material needs in order to ensure that the plant materials for food use are consistent with
respect to quality and quantity of active ingredient. The method of preparation must meet good
manufacturing practices. Antimicrobial preservative releasers (films) of organic acids, as sorbic
acid, silver zeolite, spice and herb extracts, allylisothiocyanate, enzymes, for example, lysozyme
and bacteriocins are used for growth inhibition of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria.

6. New packaging technologies and the development of food packaging

materials and nanotechnologies with food/feed applications

With the aim of development of active and passive materials for the use in the design of
packages, coatings, and packaging technologies that help maintain and improve the sensorial
and nutritional characteristics and safety of foodstuffs, as well as to increase their shelf life,
nanofabrication technologies are emerging as valuable solutions. In this way, nanostructures
and encapsulations for food applications, based on renewable materials, either edible or ined-
ible, can be obtained, which possess active and bioactive properties to improve and develop
preservation and packaging processes of foods and/or their ingredients.

Edible films are defined as a layer of material, which can be also eaten, yet provides a barrier
to moisture, oxygen, and solute movement for the food [27]. If the films are not eaten, they
could become biodegradable in the environment.

In recent years, the interest in microbial extracellular polysaccharides has increased, as they
are candidates for many commercial applications in different industrial sector like food and
pharmaceuticals. Esopolysaccharides are natural, non-toxic, and biodegradable polymers
that, besides the interest on their application in the health and biotechnology, are used as
stabilizers, gelling agents, and thickeners in food and cosmetic industries. Synthesis of value-
added biochemical from biomass using microorganism are a promising alternative. Microbial
extracellular polysaccharides cannot find its proper place in the market, unless it can be pro-
duced economically.

The microorganisms producing EPS are mainly bacteria belonging to the species Xanthomonas,
Leuconostoc, Sphingomonas, Alcaligenes, and many other, which produce xanthan dextran,
gelling, and curdling, all known to have industrial applications. However, when compared
with the synthetic polymers, microbial EPS represent a small sector in the market because of
their costly production processes [28–30]. This could be avoided by developing cost-effec-
tive and environmentally friendly production processes, such as investigating the potential
use of cheaper fermentation substrates as agro-industrial and agricultural by-products and
waste contributing also to reduce their environmental concern as, for instance, Olive Mill
Wastewater and Pomace in the Mediterranean area [31]. Proper pre-treatment for both sub-
strata have been developed to eliminate undesirable constituents with antimicrobial activity
as phenols in oil mill water [32–34].
150 Future Foods

The fungus Aureobasidium pullulans produces pullulan, an extracellular and neutral polysac-
charide, that is, a linear polymer mainly consisting of malt triose units interconnected to each
other by α-(1,6)-glycoside bonds. This confers a good solubility in water [35]. Pullulan is listed
as Existing Food Additives. The Japan Food Chemical Research Foundation and the Joint
Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food
Additives (JECFA) approved it as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS, E1204) in 2002 [36].

The incorporation of natural antimicrobial substances into edible films is of big concern in
recent years because it can enhance the safety and quality of food products by controlling or
reducing the growth of food-borne and spoilage microorganisms.

7. Molecular biology key role

Among the molecular biology techniques, PCR and multiplex PCR of DNA are very useful
to specifically identify and detect cells of microorganisms affecting food quality, but they are
not able to distinguish live from dead cells. The use of PMA™ dye is a valid alternative method
to assess bacterial growth or its inhibition instead of the colorimetric methods using a tetra-
zolium salt [37, 38]. Furthermore, tetrazolium salts are not suitable to assess the growth of
microaerophilic bacteria [39]. Other techniques as real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)
could also be used, but their uses imply equipment which cost is 10-fold higher than that of
a thermal cycler and higher specialized knowledge to perfect protocols for its use. Instead,
PCR and multiplex PCR are cheaper, less time consuming, and the results are easily read-
able in comparison with qPCR and microbiological methods. All that let to perform rapid
and efficacious massive screening of samples as well as safety control survey. In addition,
molecular biology techniques let correct species and strain identification within mixed micro-
bial populations associated to foods and develops databases for the food source assignment
of microbes.

They let to detect food-borne microbes and assess the risk they represent, comprising of via-
ble or infectious agents in non-cultivable states, too.

However, thanks to the metagenomics technology, nowadays research focus on the whole
food-associated microbial populations. They are studied at different taxonomic levels. Food
microbiota is revealed with rRNA amplicon-based high-throughput sequencing approaches
for food quality screening, monitoring population dynamics and meta-analyses based on
food microbiota interactive databases. This allows investigating the different groups of food-
associated microorganisms, mainly pathogens, spoilers, and fermentation player, as well as
their interactions and influence on food quality.

8. The neem opportunity

In recent years, a major concern emerges in the field of bacterial infections to stimulate the devel-
opment of innovative molecules with antimicrobial activity. Nowadays, zoonotic food- and
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water-borne pathogens are becoming more resistant to antibiotics. Many resistant strains have
been isolated from food and could be entering the human gastrointestinal tract on an almost daily
basis. The increasing incidence of food-borne diseases, coupled with the resultant social and
economic implications, causes a constant striving to produce safer feed and food as to develop
new natural antimicrobial agents. Plants and their agro-industrial waste and by-products repre-
sent sources of biologically active substances as potential antibiotics. According to World Health
Organization [24], medicinal plants would be the best source to obtain a variety of useful drugs.
Many plants produce secondary metabolites, which act against wound-contaminating bacteria
and parasites [40].

Nowadays, among the most promising emerging species, Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) is
considered an effective source of environmentally powerful natural products. It is believed
to be one of the most promising trees of the twenty-first century for its great potential in pest
management, environmental protection, and medicine. US EPA tested biocidal efficacy and
absence of environmental negative impact of neem products [41]. Among the many prod-
ucts obtained from the tree, neem oil (NO) is the most commercially relevant (www.organic-
neem.com/why_parker_neem.html). NO is obtained by mechanical extraction of the kernels.
Actually, NO is mainly utilized as natural insecticide, whereas the resulting residue, known
as neem cake (NC), is used in agriculture as fertilizer or as animal feed. NCE (Neem Cake
Extract) was a selected model, due to its low cost and the antimicrobial potentiality of neem,
for exploring antibacterial with a view to mass treatment of meat products. NO shows strong
antimicrobial activity against different microbial populations from food (spoilage microor-
ganism and food-borne pathogens) and wound-contaminating bacteria [42–51]. The low cost
and the available quantity of NC make it a potentially important raw material for developing
new eco-friendly insecticidal products [52–61].
An important aspect concerns the variability of neem products, whose chemical composition
must be determined. The metabolome determination of neem products was obtained using
high performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC). HPTLC, the last evolution of planar
chromatography, allows one to detect the majority of the constituents of an extract in an iden-
tifying track, named the fingerprint. An application of the HPTLC fingerprint method was
developed as specific application to determine the identification of composition of utilized
plants as complex extracts and their qualitative and quantitative pattern, in order to maintain
the correspondence between composition and activity. It is necessary to standardize natural
products, in order to establish the scientific evidences of their security and biological activity.
In fact, the metabolomics approach allows obtaining the widest possible coverage, in terms
of the type and number of analyzed compounds. The fingerprint by HPTLC method was suc-
cessfully used to determine the herbal composition of neem studied product [62–69], evidenc-
ing the complexity in composition and the multiplicity of activities.

The antibacterial activity of neem products is known to be mainly focused on the antimicro-
bial properties of azadirachtin A. However, azadirachtins are the main constituents in neem
oil and salannin is predominant in neem cake. The study on the metabolomic and biological
activity of neem products allow us to understand the importance to handle the whole phyto-
complex. Based on NO antibacterial activity, it should have several field relating human and
animal health and wellbeing as well as feed and food preservation.
152 Future Foods

9. Conclusions

New packaging technologies and the development of food packaging materials and nano-
technologies with food/feed applications are an important front to produce food in a way
that ensure it is used more efficiently and equitably, to reduce emerging/developed-country
food waste, energy cost along FSC, the environment impact of agricultural, and agro-indus-
trial products along FSC. Main objectives to be pursued are the development of innovative
solutions in food packaging for sustainable production processes and innovative packaging
systems ‘green label’ by the use of biodegradable and recyclable films with properties for
containing antimicrobials to control the microbial contamination and food spoilage by PDE
as new preservatives and food contaminant.

New promising methods can be also considered for the utilization of organic biodegradable
innovative materials, like chitosan, fern, algae, and others, in order to avoid the utilization of
metals, that is, silver or gold, and limit the use of pollutant plastics in the inclusion in the tex-
ture [70–78]. After the results obtained on the antimicrobial activity of NO and NCE, further
researches are in progress to develop smart packaging by nanotechnology microencapsula-
tion, as already obtained for insecticidal activity [79–81].

Author details

Marcello Nicoletti1 and Paola Del Serrone2*

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

2 Council of Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Zootechnics and Aquaculture Research
Center, Monterotondo, Italy

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