Chapter 2

Food Packaging
The Protect/Preserve Function

Protect refers to the prevention of physical damage.

Specifics on what will cause loss of value (damage) must
be known.

Preserve refers to stopping or inhibiting chemical and

biological change and to the extension of food shelf life
beyond the product’s natural life or the maintenance of
sterility in food or medical products.
Food Preservation

1. The nature of food

l  Food is derived from animal or vegetable sources. Its
organic nature makes it an unstable commodity in its
natural form.

l  Various means can increase the natural shelf life of

foods, thus reducing dependence on season and
location.
Food Preservation

Meat products
§  Meats are an ideal medium for microorganisms
because they contain all the necessary nutrients to
sustain growth.

§  In addition to biological action, fatty tissue is

susceptible to oxidation, and the entire mass can lose
water.

§  Reduced temperature retards microorganism activity,

slows evaporation and slows chemical reactions such
as those associated with oxidation.
Food Preservation

Fish
§  The preservation of fish is a difficult challenge because
of three main factors:
§  Psychrophilic bacteria may be present.
§  Many fish oils are unsaturated and are easily
oxidized.
§  Typical fish proteins are not as stable as red meat
proteins.

§  Chilling does not affect the activity of psychrophilic

bacteria. Frozen fish is typically kept at much lower
temperatures (-300C) than other frozen foods in order
to ensure the control of psychrophilic bacteria.
Food Preservation

Produce
§  Harvested fruits and vegetables continue to respire
and mature. They contain large amounts of water and
will wither if water loss is excessive.

§  Peas, green beans, and leafy vegetables have high

respiration rates compared with those of apples
oranges, and pears.

§  Potatoes, turnips and pumpkins respire slowly and are

easy to store. Moisture loss is more rapid with lettuce
than with a turnip because of the large available
surface area.
Food Preservation

Produce
§  Freezing of many produce items will damage cell
structure, and breakdown is very rapid after thawing.

§  Bananas can remain in a mature but green state for up

to six months in atmospheres of 92% nitrogen, 5%
oxygen, 3% carbon dioxide and no ethylene.

§  Atmosphere and temperature control are key

requirements for extending the shelf life of fresh
produce.
Food Preservation

2. Spoilage mechanisms
Food spoilage can occur by three means:
a) Internal biological deterioration
b) External biological deterioration
c) Abiotic deterioration

§  What we perceive as a food product’s flavor is a

combination of what we detect with our sense of taste
combined with what we detect with our sense of smell.

§  Preservation of essential oils ”sensory active agents”

retains the food’s full flavor at retail.
Food Preservation

2. Spoilage mechanisms

§  Essential oils are volatile. Volatiles can permeate

packaging materials and making the problem of
contamination or isolation even more difficult.

§  Water vapor is similar to an essential oil in that it readily

permeates many packaging materials.

§  The creation of high-barrier packaging systems will hold

desirable gases and volatiles in the package or prevent
undesirable volatiles from entering the package.
Food Preservation

Barrier Packaging

A barrier packaging material is one that slows down or stops

the movement of selected gaseous substances into or out of
a package
Food Preservation

2. Spoilage mechanisms
§  Stopping the movement of a gas requires barrier
packaging. Of the materials a packager can choose
from, only glass and metal provide absolute barriers to
all gases and volatiles

§  Barrier packaging can harm some products. Fresh

produce, for example, continues to respire after
harvesting and would shortly consume all the oxygen
in an oxygen-barrier package. This would lead to
reduced shelf life. Plastic bags for produce commonly
have vent holes punched in them to allow for a free
exchange of atmospheric gases
Food Preservation

3. Microorganisms

A large part of food preservation depends on the

control of microorganisms.

§  Bacteria or microbes are unicellular microscopic

organisms that reproduce by binary fission. Certain
bacterial species can form spores that are highly
resistant to killing.

§  Molds or fungi are multicellular and unicellular

plantlike organisms. The propagation and spread of
molds is typically slower than for bacteria because
of the reproduction method.
Food Preservation

Microorganisms’ preferred environments for

propagation

By manipulating the four principal environmental factors

that regulate microorganism growth, microorganisms
can be controlled or eliminated:
1.  temperature
2.  Moisture
3.  acidity (pH)
4.  nutrient source
Food Preservation

Some microorganisms act only on the food. They do

little harm when swallowed

Pathogenic organisms can cause sickness or death,

falling into basic classes:
1  Those that produce harmful toxins as by-products
in the food they infest.
2  Those that infest the food and then grow in the
human body to produce illnesses.
Food Preservation

4. Six basic methods, which are used alone or

in combination, can extend the normal
biological shelf life of food:
1 Reduced temperatures 2 Thermal processing
3 Water reduction 4 Chemical preservation
5 Modified atmospheres 6 Irradiation

Each method can slow the natural biological maturation

and spoilage of a food product, reduce biological activity or
inhibit the chemical activity that leads to abiotic spoilage.

Each method requires its own unique blend of packaging

materials and technology.
Food Preservation

1. Reduced Temperature and Freezing

Reducing temperatures below the ambient temperature
has many beneficial effects that will lead to a longer
shelf life. Doing so
1  Slows chemical activity
2  Slows loss of volatiles
3  Reduces or stops biological activity

Bacteria and molds stop developing at about -80C, and

by -180C, chemical and microorganism activity stops for
most practical purposes.
Food Preservation

1. Reduced Temperature and Freezing

§ Freezingkills some microorganisms, but not to the
extent of commercial usefulness

§ Icecrystal formation is greatest between 0 and -5℃.

Ice crystals can pierce cell walls, destroying the texture
of many fruits and vegetables. Rapid freezing reduces
this damage
Food Preservation

1. Reduced Temperature and Freezing

§  Freezer conditions will cause ice to sublimate, and
serious food dehydration (freezer burn) will occur.
Good moisture-barrier packaging with a minimum of
free air space will reduce freezer dehydration.
Complete filling of the package is desirable

§  Frozen food packages materials must remain flexible

at freezer temperatures, provide a good moisture
barrier and conform closely to the product
Food Preservation

1. Reduced Temperature and Freezing

§  When paperboard is used as part of the package, it
should be heavily waxed or coated with polyethylene to
give protection against the inevitable moisture present
in the freezing process
§  Poultry packaging in high-barrier PVDC bags is an
excellent example of an ideal freezer pack. Prepared
birds, placed into bags, pass through a vacuum
machine that draws the bag around the bird like a
second skin. The tight barrier prevents water loss and
freezer burn for extended periods, as well as preventing
passage of oxygen that would oxidize fats and oils
Food Preservation

2. Thermal Processing
Heat can destroy microorganisms. The degree of
treatment depends on the:
1  Nature of the microorganism to be destroyed
2  Acidity (pH) of the food
3  Physical nature of the food
4  Heat tolerance of the food
5  Container type and dimensions
Food Preservation

2. Thermal Processing
Pasteurization, a mild heat treatment of 60 to 700C, kill
most, but not all, microorganisms present. Pasteurization
is used when:
1  More severe heating would harm the product
2  Dangerous organisms are not very heat resistant
(such as some yeasts)
3  Surviving organisms can be controlled by other
means
4  Surviving organisms do not pose a health threat
Food Preservation

2. Thermal Processing - Aseptic packaging

§ “Hot
filling” refers to product filling at elevated
temperatures up to 100℃, used to maintain sterility in
products such as jams, syrups and juices

§ UHT
(long-life) processing of milk and fruit juices uses
temperatures in the range of 135 to 150℃, but for a few
seconds or less. The high temperature is enough to kill
most pathogens
Food Preservation

2. Thermal Processing - Aseptic packaging

§  UHT is the basis of most flexible aseptic drink
packaging. The term “aseptic” as applied to
packaging refers to any system wherein the product
and container are sterilized separately and then
combined and sealed under aseptic conditions

§  In the 1940s, metal cans were sterilized and filled with
puddings, sauces, and soups.
Food Preservation

2. Thermal Processing - Aseptic packaging

§  In the 1970s, aseptic packaging was adapted to
institutional bag-in-box systems. Advantages:

§  eliminating the need for the elevated temperatures

and pressures used in conventional canning
methods;
§  Eliminating the need for extreme sterilizing
conditions allows aseptic packaging materials to
have lower physical strengths and lower
temperature tolerance
Food Preservation

2. Thermal Processing - Aseptic packaging

§  Commercial systems, such as Tetra Pak use hydrogen
peroxide to sterilize simple paper, foil and polyethylene
laminates, and then fill the formed package with UHT-
treated product
Food Preservation

3. Water Reduction
§  Drying is an old and well-established method of
preserving food.

§  The essential feature of drying is that moisture

content is reduced below that required for the
support of microorganisms.

§  An added advantage is reduced bulk and reduction

of other chemical activity.
Food Preservation

3. Water Reduction
§  Methods: by simple heat drying or by the addition of
salt or sugar. (i.e., Concentrated salt and sugar
solutions tie up free water and make it unavailable to
microorganisms. Jams having high sugar contents
do not require refrigeration for this reason).
Food Preservation

3. Water Reduction
§  Equilibrium Relative Humidity (E.R.H) is the
atmospheric humidity condition under which a food
will neither gain nor lose moisture to the air.
§  A food with an Aw (water activity) of 0.5 is at an
equilibrium relative humidity of 50%.
Typical moisture content and desired E.R.H ranges
Products Typical Moisture(%) E.R.H
Potato chips, instant coffee 3% or less 10 to 20%
Crackers, breakfast cereals 3 to 7% 20 to 30%
Cereal grains, nuts, dried fruit 7 to 20% 30 to 60%
Salt 75%
Sugar 85%
Food Preservation

3. Water Reduction
§  Very low-E.R.H. foods are hygroscopic and will draw
available moisture from the air. These foods require
a barrier package that will not permit the entry of
atmospheric moisture

§  Dried foods such as potato chips and instant coffee

require packaging materials with high moisture-
barrier properties. Potato chips are also rich in oil
(about 30%), so that they also need a high oxygen
barrier.
Food Preservation

3. Water Reduction
§  Dried foods with E.R.H. values of 20 to 30% have less
stringent moisture-barrier requirements and are easier
to package.

§  Foods with an E.R.H. of 30 to 60% can often be stored

for long periods with little or no barrier packaging since
their E.R.H. corresponds to typical atmospheric
conditions. If the food has a high oil content, oxygen
barriers may be needed. Bacteriological activity is
rarely a problem with low- or reduced-moisture foods
since one of the essentials of bacterial growth has
been removed
Food Preservation

3. Water Reduction
§  High E.R.H. foods lose moisture under typical
atmospheric conditions. A cake with an E.R.H. of 90%
would soon establish a relative humidity of 90% inside
a sealed package, creating ideal conditions for mold
growth. The packaging challenge is to control moisture
loss, retarding it as much as possible, but not to the
extent that a high humidity is established within the
package
Food Preservation

4. Chemical Preservatives
§  Various natural and synthetic chemicals and
antioxidants are used. They are used in conjunction
with other preservation methods.

§  The use of most of them is strictly controlled by law.

Food Preservation

4. Chemical Preservatives
§  Chemical preservatives work in various ways:
1  Some, such carbon dioxide, found in carbonated
beverages creates an acid environment and is also a
bacteriostat
2  Smoking and curing of meat and fish is partly a drying
process and partly chemical preservation
3  Aliphatic and aromatic wood distillation products
(many related to creosote) are acidic and have
variable bacteriostatic effects. Varying amounts of salt
pretreatment accompanies most smoking
Food Preservation

5. Modified Atmosphere Packaging

§  MAP recognizes that many food degradation
processes have a relationship with the surrounding
atmosphere.

§  MAP involves the introduction of a gas mixture other

than air into a package.

§  MAP is used in storage and warehousing where the

atmosphere can be monitored and adjusted.

§  Ambient air is about 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen,

with a trace of carbon dioxide
Food Preservation

5. Modified Atmosphere Packaging

Typical modified atmospheres for selected food products
Product Oxygen Carbon Dioxide Nitrogen
Red meat 40% 20% 40%
White meats/pasta --- 50% 50%
Fish 20% 80% ---
Produce 5% --- 95%
Backed goods 1% 60% 39%
Food Preservation

5. Modified Atmosphere Packaging

§  O2 is biologically active, and for most products, is
associated with respiration and oxidation

§  CO2 in high concentrations is a natural bacteriostat.

Levels of 20% and higher are used to create
conditions unfavorable to most microorganisms

§  N2 is biologically inert, “filler” gas or to displace oxygen

Most packaging materials used in MAP for

everything other than produce must have good gas-
barrier properties to all three gases
Food Preservation

5. Modified Atmosphere Packaging

§  Vacuum packaging is one type of MAP. It has the
effect of eliminating some or all oxygen that might
contribute to degradation. Disadvantages:
§  fruits and vegetables have respiratory functions
that must be continued;
§  red meat will turn brown or purple without
oxygen;
§  pressures created by the external atmosphere
surrounding a vacuum-packaged product can
physically crush delicate products or squeeze
water out of moist products
Food Preservation

5. Modified Atmosphere Packaging

§  A package containing only carbon dioxide and nitrogen
is a system where atmospheric oxygen is trying to
penetrate the package and establish an equilibrium
partial pressure. The integrity of all seals is of
paramount importance

§ The natural respiration of a fruit or vegetable consumes

oxygen and produces carbon dioxide and moisture.
Ventilated or low-barrier packaging is needed to ensure
a supply of oxygen and to rid the package of excess
moisture
MAP has increased natural shelf life by 2 to 10 times
Food Preservation

6. Irradiation
§  Radiation is energy categorized by wavelength and
includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation,
visible light, ultraviolet light and X rays

§  These types of radiation increase in energy from radio

to X rays; the shorter the wavelength, the greater the
energy

§  Given sufficient energy, waves can penetrate

substances. With more energy still, they will interact
with the molecules of the penetrated substance
Food Preservation

6. Irradiation
§  Short-wavelength radiations have enough energy to
cause energy to ionization of molecules, mainly water

§  Ionization can disrupt complex molecules and leads to

the death of living organisms

§  Irradiation has been used to increase the keeping

quality of various foods,

§  Irradiation is a unique process in that it is carried out at

ambient temperatures and can penetrate packaging
material or products
Food Preservation

6. Irradiation
§  Food irradiation is prohibited in some countries and
highly regulated in most. However, the use of
irradiation to achieve sterility for medical devices,
packaging materials and personal care products does
not present a problem and is a useful technology

§  Labeling is another contentious issue. The irradiation

symbol must be accompanied by a statement such as
“treated by irradiation” or “irradiated”
Food Preservation

The international food irradiation symbol