Modified Atmosphere Packaging: Design and Optimization Strategies for Fresh Produce

Abstract

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is a useful preservation system that allows to significantly increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. The MAP results of changing the composition of the atmosphere in the packaging headspace due to the dynamic interaction between the metabolic processes of the packaged product on the one hand, in which O 2 is consumed and another gases such as CO 2 and water vapor are generated, and on the other hand, by transferring all of these gases through the package. The aim of the system is to balance these two processes in such a way that constant levels of these different gases are reached in the packaging headspace and that these equilibrium levels are as favorable as possible to preserve the product. This chapter describes design strategies to obtain a satisfactory gas transfer capacity in the MAP system through the configuration of several related variables such as the type of packing material, its thickness, the transfer surface area and the required number and diameter of perforations. For this, the necessary steps are proposed to estimate the appropriate transfer capacity according to the equilibrium gas concentrations desired to longer preserve the product by using the mass balance equations of the MAP system.

Determination of changes in physicochemical and sensory characteristics of purple passion fruit with the application of different packaging systems, including an ethylene scavenger additive

“…Regarding the Xtend ® bags, it is a multilayered polyamide (PA) and LDPE‐based material. The permeabilities to O 2 and CO 2 of the materials used are between 180–250 and 1000–1300 cm 3 mm m 2 atm −1 day −1 , respectively, in the case of LDPE, and 1–5 and 3–15 cm 3 mm m 2 atm −1 day −1 , respectively, in the case of PA, at standard conditions (Castellanos & Herrera, 2017; Flaconnèche et al., 2001).…”

“…The observed results are the premise for developing a suitable packaging system with modified atmospheres. The packaging system must be configured in such a way that the O 2 level can be reduced to favorable levels to reduce the kinetics of metabolic processes and hence the rate of deterioration (Castellanos & Herrera, 2017;Castellanos et al, 2016). In this case, considering that O 2 consumption and CO 2 and ethylene production rates were higher for the S2 fruits, in the storage tests, fruits of the same ripening stage were used to evaluate the packaging systems under the maximum conditions of transfer F I G U R E 1 Rates of O 2 consumption (A), CO 2 production (B), and ethylene generation (C) of purple passion fruits of three ripening stages at 6 • C of gases from the packed product and also to determine the changes in gas concentration in the headspace and changes in the sensory characteristics of the samples.…”

Evaluation and modeling of changes in color, firmness, and physicochemical shelf life of cut pineapple (Ananas comosus) slices in equilibrium‐modified atmosphere packaging

“…Likewise, the statistical analysis performed before was considered to determine if the effect of each factor (temperature and O 2 concentration) was significant in the changes of fruit firmness and color. The influence of the O 2 concentration and temperature over the samples and their properties were determined by fitting the data to the proposed equations and by estimating the corresponding parameters (Castellanos & Herrera, 2017). Four replicates were used to adjust the modeling parameters for each evaluated property.…”

Towards Impact of Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) on Shelf-Life of Polymer-Film-Packed Food Products: Challenges and Sustainable Developments

“…Therefore, food producers have to use the newest technology of protective gases and multi-level quality assurance to reach the highest level of process safety [7]. However, each protective atmosphere must be optimized for a specific product, since agricultural products have different metabolisms to each other, and the MAP system must balance the processes of respiration, transpiration, and gas permeation through the packaging that will be occurring simultaneously [1]. A similar situation also applies to meat and other products we want to pack into MAP.…”

“…The issue of the environmental friendliness of products, especially packaging, is of great importance. Food packaging very quickly becomes a nuisance waste [1][2][3][4]. Even though that some elements of packaging are only a matter of individual taste, the remaining elements are really important for every one of us and have to be produced at the highest level.…”