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Unit-1:Introduction
MFT-004 >> Block-1 >> Unit-2 >>
3.0 : Objective
3.1 : Introduction
3.2 : Vacuum Package
3.3 : Gas Packaging
3.3.1 : Oxygen
3.3.2 : Carbon dioxide
3.3.3 : Nitrogen
3.4 : Aseptic packaging
3.5 : Retort packaging
3.6 : Active Packaging
3.6.1 : Ethylene scavengers
3.6.2 : Carbon dioxide scavengers and emitters
3.6.3 : Humidity regulators
3.6.4 : Oxygen scavengers
3.6.5 : Antimicrobial packaging
3.6.6 : Breathing films
3.7 : Biodegradable Packaging
3.8 : Let us sum up
3.9 : key words
3.10 : Answers to check your progress exercises
3.11 : Some useful books
3.0 : Objective
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3.1 : Introduction
You have studied packaging requirement and their selection for different
food products. When you go to super markets you will see newer and newer
packages on the shelf quite often. The shifts in packaging trends are due to
consumers demand for convenience, information, attractive display, address
one or more specific needs etc. In this unit you will study recent trends in
food packaging.
Modern food packaging innovations have made it possible to keep the food
fresh for a much longer time, without changing the taste or aroma. The goal
of developing food packaging is the achievement of a more ideal match of
the properties of the package to the requirements of the food. Hence it
addresses one or more specific needs of the food without necessarily having
any impact on other food properties.
Flavour and odour absorbers like films and sachets have been introduced to
reduce the transfer of aroma or flavour between components. This helps
keeping food items fresh and natural for a long times. Various industries have
In the retail shops you will find products like dry foods such as cereals, nuts,
cured meats, cheese, smoked fish, coffee etc are packed in vacuum. In this
section we will find out why they are vacuum packed.
We have studied the vacuum packed products. Now we will see some of the
products like potato chips are packed with gases called gas packaging.
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3. What are advantages of Vacuum Packaging?
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4. What is nitrogen or inert gas packing?
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Packaging of non-sterile product to avoid infection by microorganisms. Examples of this application include fermented dairy
products like yoghurt.
to withstand heat up to about 100C for high acid products and up to 127C
for low acid products, which must receive added heat to destroy heatresistant microbial spores. Packages containing low-acid (above pH 4.5) food
must withstand pressure as well. Although conventional canning renders food
products commercially sterile, the nutritional contents and the organoleptic
properties of the food generally suffer in the processing. Moreover, tinplate
containers are heavy in weight, prone to rusting and are of high cost.
The three main advantages of using aseptic packaging technology are:
Besides the features mentioned above, additional advantages are that the
HTST process utilises less energy, as part of the process-heat is recovered
through the heat exchangers and the aseptic process is a modern continuous
flow process needing fewer operators. Figure shows schematic
representation of aseptic packaging process. Different methods based on
physical process, chemical sterilisers and radiations are used for sterilisation
of packaging materials.
area. To eliminate the risk of contamination from the base of carton, all edges
are protected.
Retort is a cooking process that uses heat and pressure to cook food in its
sealed package. Retort Packaging conditions are quite demanding with
temperatures typically ranging from 120C to 130C. Different retort grade
films which are laminated together to provide the strength, toughness,
puncture and burst resistance that enable flexible retort packaging to
withstand the strenuous retort process.
products are readily found today on store shelves in pouch form. Also found
on store shelves in retortable packages are: seafood, precooked meats, rice,
sauces, soups, stews, and many others.
Retort pouch packaging has superior barrier and printing qualities and can be
supplied as stand-up, flat or in roll form. Flexible retort packaging offer a
variety of additional benefits over rigid packaging to both retailers and
consumers that include : Superior taste due to reduced retort time. Extended
shelf life in retort packaging. Reduced storage space in retort packaging, both
in warehouse and pantries. Reduced transportation costs. Easier and safer
tear-open/disposal consumer experience. Microwave convenience retort
packaging
Retort packaging and packaging are available in two variants one is
aluminium foil laminated and another transparent see through retort
packaging .
Common flexible retort packaging structures include the following:
PET / FOIL / Nylon / CPP
PET / Nylon / FOIL / CPP
PET-SiOX or AlOX / Nylon / CPP
Due to retort packaging have their thinner dimensions; it takes less time to
cook food in a flexible retort packaging than in other forms of rigid
packaging such as cans and jars. This reduced retort time results in foods that
have superior taste in retort pouches.
PVDC(or EVOH)/ PP
2. Al Foil based trays made of Body- Epoxy resin / 100-150 m Al Foil /
50 m PP
3. Lid - Epoxy resin / 50- 100 m Al Foil / 50 m PP
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2. What is aseptic packaging?
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This approach allows the food packer to reduce the surface concentration of
water in a food by reducing the in-pack relative humidity. This can be done
by placing one or more humectants between two layers of a plastic film
which is highly permeable to water vapour. An example of this type of
product is "Pitchit" manufactured by Showa Denko in Japan. The film duplex
is described as containing an alcohol, as propylene glycol and a
carbohydrate, both of which are humectants.
A different approach to humidity buffering is being developed for use in the
distribution of horticultural produce which is normally distributed in
fibreboard cartons, usually with a polyethylene liner or made from very
expensive waxed fibreboard without a liner. A recent development has been
the water-barrier coating of the inside of fibreboard cartons to allow moist
produce to be placed directly into the carton. Besides the introduction of
liquid water with the produce, packing into closed spaces allows the build-up
of water vapour. Since temperature cycling is very difficult to avoid during
handling there is every likelihood of condensation and with this the growth
of microorganisms on fruits and vegetables.Two widely different approaches
have been taken to buffering the humidity in the cartons in order to prevent
condensation while not concurrently causing desiccation of the produce. One
is to include microporous bags or pads of inorganic salts and the other is to
line the carton with a protected layer of a solid polymeric humectant.
The most recent alternative involves the use of the carton as the active
package rather the use of an insert. This approach lends itself to combination
with EMA generation less readily as the humidity is buffered at the interface
with the fibreboard. The designs of Patterson and Joyce involve a) an integral
water vapour barrier layer on the inner surface of the fibreboard, b) a paperlike material bonded to the barrier and which acts as a wick, and c) a layer
highly permeable to water vapour (but unwettable) next to the fruit or
vegetable. The latter layer is spot welded to the layer underneath.
Accordingly the multilayer of material on the inside of the carton is able to
take up water in the vapour state when the temperature drops and the RH
rises. When the temperature rises the multilayer releases water vapour back
into the carton in response to a lowering of the RH. The condensation control
system therefore acts as an internal water buffer. The critical characteristic of
the system is the capacity of the wick layer for water. For dried food
applications, desiccants such as silica gel, molecular sieves, CaO and natural
clays (e.g. montmorillonite) are often contained within TyvekTM sachets.
Examples where these compounds are used include the sachets MINIPAX
and STRIP-PAX and the moisture absorbing label DesiMax (United
Desiccants, USA) and the sachets Desipak, Sorb-it , Tri-sorb and 2-in-
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3.6.4 : Oxygen scavengers
PET-bottles for plastic packaging of wine, beer, sauces and other beverages.
It should be noted that the speed and capacity of O2 scavenging films are
considerably lower compared with iron-based O2 scavenger sachets. Other
recent developments include inserts in the form of flat packets, cards or
sheets, as well as O2 scavenging adhesive labels, like Freshmax (Multisorb
technologies, USA) and the ATCO labels (Standa Industrie, France).
Ascorbic acid is another O2 scavenging component which can be used. The
Pillsbury Co. holds a 1994 patent that also utilizes ascorbic acid as reducing
agent. A transition metal, copper, is used to catalyse the oxidation reaction.
The product, referred to as Oxysorb can be included inside a pouch or may
be incorporated into the packaging. Another O2 scavenging technique
involves sealing of a small coil of an ethyl cellulose films containing a
dissolved photosensitive dye and a singlet O2 acceptor in the headspace of a
transparent package. Due to illumination of the film with light of the
appropriate wavelength, excited dye molecules sensitize O2 molecules, which
have diffused into the polymer, to the singlet state. These singlet
O2 molecules react with acceptor molecules and are thereby consumed.
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3.6.5 : Antimicrobial packaging
The surfaces of plastics can be made not only sterile but also capable of
having an antimicrobial effect on the packaged food or beverage. This type
of effect has already been achieved in outer layers of laminates by use of
modified printing presses. Horseradish extract on a cyclodextrin carrier has
been used in a drip sheet for fish or in a film wrap for lunches in Japan.
Approaches to antimicrobial packaging can be classified as either of two
types. The first consists of binding an agent to the surface of packages and
this would require a molecular structure large enough to retain activity on the
microbial cell wall even though bound to the plastic. Such agents are likely
to be limited to enzymes or other antimicrobial proteins. The second
approach involves the release of agents into the food or beverage or localized
removal of a food ingredient essential for microbial growth.
Release of antimicrobial agents will be restricted by regulatory approval as
intended food additives. This is not necessarily a serious restriction as the
goal of the approach is merely to maintain an appropriate concentration of
the agent on the surface of the food which may have been effectively
inoculated with microorganisms due to cutting or slicing. This concept has
been advanced in the case of an edible coating. An alternative approach
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3. What are the benefits of using O2 absorbers?
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4. What is Intelligent Packaging?
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2. What are the end products of biodegradation and do they have any harmful
effect on the environment?
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CO2
Carbon dioxide
O2
oxygen
N2
Nitrogen
PET
Polyethylene terephthalate
PE
Polyethylene
AL
Aluminium
LLDPE
PA
Polyamide
CPP
Coextruded polypropylene
C2H4
Ethylene
CaO
Calcium oxide
EMA
MAP
PLA
Polylactic acid
PHA
Polyhydroxyalkanoates
PHB
Polyhydroxybutyrate
EVOH
HTST
Head Space
The gaseous constituents of a closed space above liquids or solid in the container
Shelf life
Shelf life is the recommendation of time that products can be stored, during which the
proportion of the goods remains acceptable under expected (or specified) conditions o
Scavengers
Emitters
The substance (chemical or combination of chemicals) used to give or send out requir
Aseptic processing
The process by which a sterile (aseptic) product (food) is packaged in a sterile contain
which maintains sterility.
Co-extrusion
The process of extruding two or more materials through a single die with two or more
extrudates merge and weld together into a laminar structure.
Retort
Inhibitor
Therefore, the weight you package will be the weight you sell.
o Vacuum packaging reduces trim losses by eliminating
oxidation and freezer burn.
o Vacuum packaging can enhance product quality. Vacuum
packaged meat held at 32 to 35 does not hinder aging or
tenderizing.
o Vacuum packaging allows more efficient use of time. Food
can be prepared in advance without loss of freshness, so slack
times are more productive and busy times are more
manageable.
4. The process of controlled purging of inert gas inside a flexi pouch
and sealing the mouth of the pouch with gas inside in sequence, is
called inert gas packing. You can vacuummize and purge the pouch
inside the INDVAC chamber type machine or you can vacuummize
and purge or only purge a flexi pouch in INDVAC nozzle type
machine.
5. Yes, the conventional monolayer pouches are not suitable as they do
not have barrier property. You need to use multi layer pouches with
either polyester, nylon or aluminium foil barrier layers.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
Your answer should include the following points:
1. The special aseptic process yields a shelf-stable product, which can
be kept in a cupboard for extended periods of time without
preservatives or refrigeration. In describing their preference,
consumers often point to the safety, nutrition, and ease of handling of
the aseptic package. Others prefer the aseptic carton because it is
shatter-proof and tamper-evident.
2. Aseptically processed liquid foods and beverages are sterilized
outside the package using an ultra-high temperature process that
rapidly heats, then cools, the product before filling. This flashheating-and-cooling aseptic process substantially reduces the energy
use and nutrient loss associated with conventional sterilization. As a
result, aseptically packaged products retain more nutritional value,
and exhibit more natural texture, colour, and taste.
Unit-4:Packaging Machinery