Controlled and Modified Atmosphere Packaging

Emrah Kırtıl

Controlled and Modified Atmosphere Packaging

To prolong the shelf life of foods, it is crucial to minimize the rates of biochemical, enzymatic, and microbial degradation reactions. Commonly, this is achieved by ensuring proper sanitation conditions during slaughter or harvesting, processing foods to reduce water activity and damage enzyme functionality, and providing optimum temperature and relative humidity conditions during storage (Kader et al., 1989). Despite these precautions, air surrounding the foods continues to provide a suitable medium for oxidative rancidity reactions, as well as growth of aerobic microorganisms. Hence, alteration of the atmosphere around the food could help preserve its quality. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is defined as the enclosure of a packaged food with an optimal gas composition that is specifically designed to extend its shelf life and is different from atmospheric gas composition (Church and Parsons, 1995). In controlled atmosphere storage (CAS), a fixed predetermined concentration of gases is maintained by constant addition or removal of gases during storage of unpackaged foods. In modified atmosphere (MA), unlike controlled atmosphere systems, no further control is exerted over the food after modification of the initial gas composition (Robertson, 2012; Kader et al., 1989). The positive effects of MA on preserving freshness of foods were first reported in 1821, when Jacques Etienne Berard (a professor at School of Pharmacy at Montpellier in France) claimed that storage of fruits and vegetables under low O 2 concentrations retarded ripening (Robertson, 2012). First commercial applications involved the use of CAS to safely transport fruits in the holds of ships under decreased O 2 concentrations (Davies, 1995; Mullan and McDowell, 2003). The increasing research on the subject has made commercial packaging application available by early 1970s. The initial commercial applications concentrated on red meat, bacon, fish, processed meats, and cooked shellfish. Today, the high consumer demand for longer-shelf-life foods without the addition of preservatives has made MAP available for a wide range of foods including

Controlled and Modified Atmosphere Packaging Emrah Kirtil and Mecit H Oztop, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey Ó 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. To prolong the shelf life of foods, it is crucial to minimize the rates of biochemical, enzymatic, and microbial degradation reactions. Commonly, this is achieved by ensuring proper sanitation conditions during slaughter or harvesting, processing foods to reduce water activity and damage enzyme functionality, and providing optimum temperature and relative humidity conditions during storage (Kader et al., 1989). Despite these precautions, air surrounding the foods continues to provide a suitable medium for oxidative rancidity reactions, as well as growth of aerobic microorganisms. Hence, alteration of the atmosphere around the food could help preserve its quality. Modiﬁed atmosphere packaging (MAP) is deﬁned as the enclosure of a packaged food with an optimal gas composition that is speciﬁcally designed to extend its shelf life and is different from atmospheric gas composition (Church and Parsons, 1995). In controlled atmosphere storage (CAS), a ﬁxed predetermined concentration of gases is maintained by constant addition or removal of gases during storage of unpackaged foods. In modiﬁed atmosphere (MA), unlike controlled atmosphere systems, no further control is exerted over the food after modiﬁcation of the initial gas composition (Robertson, 2012; Kader et al., 1989). The positive effects of MA on preserving freshness of foods were ﬁrst reported in 1821, when Jacques Etienne Berard (a professor at School of Pharmacy at Montpellier in France) claimed that storage of fruits and vegetables under low O2 concentrations retarded ripening (Robertson, 2012). First commercial applications involved the use of CAS to safely transport fruits in the holds of ships under decreased O2 concentrations (Davies, 1995; Mullan and McDowell, 2003). The increasing research on the subject has made commercial packaging application available by early 1970s. The initial commercial applications concentrated on red meat, bacon, ﬁsh, processed meats, and cooked shellﬁsh. Today, the high consumer demand for longer-shelf-life foods without the addition of preservatives has made MAP available for a wide range of foods includingmeat, poultry, ﬁsh, bakery products, potato chips, cheeses, salads, fruits, and vegetables (Davies, 1995; Mullan and McDowell, 2003; Robertson, 2012). Table 1 lists some of the applications of MAP, with the gas compositions used (Parry, 1993). In most of the MAP foods, O2 is completely excluded and replaced by either CO2 or N2 or a combination of both. Exceptionally, for fruit and vegetables, increased respiration rates in the presence of oxygen result in with faster ripening and ethylene (C2H4) formation. That is why, to decrease the rate of respiration, it is crucial to use the minimum O2 concentration possible without triggering anaerobic fermentation (Kader et al., 1989; Yam and Lee, 1995). Similarly for red meat, oxygen cannot be excluded from the package as only in the presence of O2, myoglobin can be maintained in its oxygenated form of oxymyoglobin which gives meat its signature attractive red appearance (Robertson, 2012). CAS and MAP, though simple in concept and execution, are very effective and increasingly applied to many foods, providing increased shelf lives for low costs. Considering how effective and cost-efﬁcient these technologies are, they might prove to be one of the most dominant preservation techniques in the twenty-ﬁrst century. Table 1 Recommended gas mixtures for modiﬁed atmosphere packaging (Parry, 1993) Product Oxygen (%) Carbon dioxide (%) Nitrogen (%) Red meat Cooked/cured meat Poultry Fish (oily) Hard cheese Soft cheese Bread Nondairy cakes Dairy cakes Pasta (fresh) Fruits and vegetables Dried/roasted foods 60–85 – 25 – – – 60–70 – – – 3–5 – 15–40 20–35 75 60 100 30 30–40 60 – – 3–5 – – 65–80 Reference Module in Food Sciences http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.03376-X 40 – 70 – 40 100 100 85–95 100 1 2 Controlled and Modified Atmosphere Packaging References Church, I.J., Parsons, A.L., 1995. Modiﬁed atmosphere packaging technology – a review. J. Sci. Food Agric. 67, 143–152. Available at: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/jsfa. 2740670202. Davies, A.R., 1995. Advances in modiﬁed-atmosphere packaging. In: Gould, G.W. (Ed.), New Methods of Food Preservation SE – 14. Springer, US, pp. 304–320. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2105-1_14. Kader, A.A., Zagory, D., Kerbel, E.L., 1989. Modiﬁed atmosphere packaging of fruits and vegetables. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr. 28 (1), 1–30. Mullan, M., McDowell, D., 2003. Modiﬁed atmosphere packaging. Food Packag. Technol. 303–339. Parry, R.T., 1993. In: Parry, R.T. (Ed.), Principles and Applications of Modiﬁed Atmosphere Packaging of Food. Blackie, Glasgow, UK, pp. 1–18. Robertson, G.L., 2012. Food Packaging: Principles and Practice. Taylor & Francis. Yam, K.L., Lee, D.S., 1995. Design of modiﬁed atmosphere packaging for fresh produce. In: Active Food Packaging.

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Controlled and Modified Atmosphere Packaging

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