Development of a Sulfite‐Based Oxygen Scavenger and its Application in Kimchi Packaging to Prevent Oxygen‐mediated Deterioration of Kimchi Quality

Abstract

A sulfite-based oxygen scavenger (SOS) was developed with sodium metabisulfite and applied to kimchi packaging in an attempt to prevent oxygen-mediated kimchi quality degradation. The results of the oxygenscavenging capacity test showed that the SOS had a competitive oxygenscavenging performance in comparison with commercial oxygen scavengers. The kimchi was packaged with and without the SOS and stored over 12 weeks at 0 and 10°C for an SOS application test. The kimchi treated with the SOS showed a significantly lower (P < 0.05) headspace oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration and pressure inside the packages than the control. The pH and titratable acidity values indicated that the SOS did not retard the kimchi fermentation process. The Hunter L, a, and b values in the kimchi packaged with the SOS were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those in the control. After 12 weeks of storage, the total aerobic bacteria counts were reduced by 1.32 and 2.97 log CFU/g, lactic acid bacteria counts were reduced by 2.22 and 4.42 log CFU/g, and total yeasts and molds counts were reduced by 1.76 and 3.04 log CFU/g at 0 and 10°C, respectively, by the SOS compared to those in the control. These results demonstrated that the developed SOS inhibited oxygen-mediated deterioration of the kimchi, but did not affect the kimchi fermentation. Therefore, our SOS can be used as an active food-packaging technology for kimchi quality preservation.Keywords: active packaging, kimchi packaging, oxygen absorber, oxygen scavenger, sodium metabisulfite Practical Application: A newly designed sulfite-based oxygen scavenger was applied in kimchi packaging, and it showed remarkable preventive effects on the kimchi quality deterioration caused by oxygen. Accordingly, it can be used as an active food-packaging technology to maintain kimchi quality during the storage period. Moreover, it can also be effectively utilized in the packaging of other high-moisture foods such as meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.

Supercooling as a potentially improved storage option for commercial kimchi

“…To clarify the cause of this difference in SD, the microbiological and physicochemical characteristics were analyzed for red and white cabbage kimchi manufactured in March, May, and July 2018 (Table 1). The amount of aerobic bacteria generally increases during the initial period of kimchi storage (Cheon et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2018), except in anaerobic packaging conditions using an oxygen scavenger (Lee et al., 2018). The number of aerobic bacteria in all commercial kimchi samples was maintained, or slightly reduced, during 4 °C storage, which was presumed to have been caused by anaerobic condition being generated in the airtight packages.…”

“…As mentioned in Section 3.1, the amount of aerobic bacteria generally increases during the initial period of kimchi storage, except in anaerobic packaging conditions using an oxygen scavenger (Cheon et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2018; Lee et al., 2018). Based on the gas concentration rates (Figure 7), the headspace of the kimchi package became anaerobic after 3 weeks of storage and was related to the decrease in aerobic bacteria observed after this time point (Table 4).…”

Food packaging and its oxygen transfer models in active multilayer structures: A theoretical review

“…The use of sulfite-based systems can be beneficial for post-packaging detection of unwanted metal contaminants when passing the products through metal detectors. 13…”

Effects of oxygen scavengers (Sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, sodium dithionite, and sodium metabisulfite) on growth and accumulation of biomass in the green alga Asterarcys quadricellulare

“…Till date, there was no report on oxygen scavenging capacity of sodium metabisulfite with algal cultures, and recently, our laboratory used it while working with C. minutum [3]. However, Lee et al [29] developed the sulfite-based oxygen scavengers for the preservation of plant-based food materials specifically using sodium metabisulfite. Overall current investigation standardized the optimal concentration of oxygen scavengers in this alga, which will be helpful for other algal species specifically for anaerobic experiments.…”