Novel Food Packaging Techniques

R Ahvenainen

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9781855736757
• eBook ISBN: 9781855737020
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Packaging continues to be one of the most important and innovative areas in food processing. Edited by a leading expert in the field, and with its distinguished international team of contributors, Novel food packaging techniques provides an authoritative and comprehensive review of the key trends.Part one discusses the range of active packaging techniques such as the use of oxygen and other scavengers, moisture regulation and antimicrobial packaging in food preservation. It also covers the use of intelligent systems such as time-temperature and freshness indicators to assess food quality. Part two reviews developments in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and its role in enhancing product safety and quality. Part three describes packaging applied in practice to particular products such as meat and fish. Part four covers other key issues such as packaging optimisation, the legislative context, sustainable packaging and consumer attitudes.Novel food packaging techniques is a standard reference for the food industry in optimising the use of packaging to improve product safety and quality. - Provides an authoritative and comprehensive review of the key trends of food packaging - Discusses the range of active packaging techniques such as the use of oxygen and other scavengers, moisture regulation and antimicrobial packaging in food preservation - Covers packaging optimisation, the legislative context, sustainable packaging and consumer attitudes

1

Introduction

AhvenainenR.    VTT Biotechnology, Finland

The packaging sector is an important global industry, representing about 2% of the Gross National Product (GNP) of the developed countries. The value of the packaging industry is about 345 million euros worldwide, of which Europe represents a third. Fifty per cent of this market is packaging for food. Forecasts suggest that the sector will continue to grow in size and importance.

Many cooking and preservation processes still largely depend on effective packaging, for example canning, aseptic, sous vide and baking processes. Processes such as drying and freezing would be lost without protective packaging after processing to control product exposure to the effects of oxygen, light, water vapour, bacterial and other contaminants. However, modern food packaging no longer has just a passive role in protecting and marketing the product. It increasingly has an active role in processing, preservation and in retaining the safety and quality of foods throughout the distribution chain. Indeed, packaging development has changed the preservation methods used for food products. Ten to fifteen years ago all poultry products or industrially prepared raw minced meat were sold as frozen. Nowadays, thanks to modified- atmosphere packaging based on protective gases and novel gas-impermeable packaging materials, they are mainly sold as chilled products. The modern preparation and often international distribution of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables for retail sale is also possible today because of respirable packaging films.

Nowadays packaging plays an increasingly important role in the whole food chain ‘from the field to the consumer’s table’. As an example, many fresh agricultural products such as berries and mushrooms are picked in the field or the greenhouse directly into consumer packages and plastic or fibre-based trays. The product is thus touched only once before it reaches the consumer. Another example is ready-to-eat food and snack products which are packed in microwaveable trays which allow consumers to prepare the food immediately and even serve as an eating dish.

Food packaging has developed strongly during recent years, mainly due to increased demands on product safety, shelf-life extension, cost-efficiency, environmental issues, and consumer convenience. In order to improve the performance of packaging in meeting these varied demands, innovative modified- and controlled-atmosphere packaging, and active and intelligent packaging systems are being developed, tested and optimised in laboratories around the world. All these novel packaging technologies have great commercial potential to ensure the quality and safety of food with fewer or no additives and preservatives, thus reducing food wastage, food poisoning and allergic reactions. Intelligent packaging can also monitor product quality and trace a product’s history through the critical points in the food supply chain. An intelligent product quality control system thus enables more efficient production, higher product quality and a reduced number of complaints from retailers and consumers. Intelligent packaging will also give the food industry the means to carry out in-house quality control required by food regulators.

This book covers selected trends and development in food packaging technologies and materials aiming at assuring the safety and quality of foodstuffs. In today’s competitive market optimal packages are a major advantage when persuading consumers to buy a certain brand. Packaging has to satisfy various requirements effectively and economically. The food manufacturer’s objective is to design an optimised package which satisfies all legislative, marketing and functional requirements sufficiently, and fulfils environmental, cost and consumer demands as well as possible.

I hope that the book will be interesting to readers, and reach a wide market amongst those working in research, industry or government, i.e., all those people who should know new trends in food packaging and the possibilities they raise to improve product safety and quality. In editing this book I would like to thank all the contributors, many of whom I have known for several years. I appreciate their willingness to share their expert knowledge and working within a tight schedule. I also want to thank my colleagues at VTT Biotechnology for many years of valuable cooperation and discussion and for helping to build such a positive and creative environment.

Part I

Types and roles of active and intelligent packaging

2

Active and intelligent packaging : An introduction

AhvenainenR. VTT Biotechnology, Finland

2.1 Introduction: the role of packaging in the food chain

Packaging has a significant role in the food supply chain and it is an integral part both of the food processes and the whole food supply chain. Food packaging has to perform several tasks as well as fulfilling many demands and requirements. Traditionally, a food package makes distribution easier. It has protected food from environmental conditions, such as light, oxygen, moisture, microbes, mechanical stresses and dust. Other basic tasks have been to ensure adequate labelling for providing information e.g., to the customer, and a proper convenience to the consumer, e.g., easy opening, reclosable lids and a suitable dosing mechanism. Basic requirements are good marketing properties, reasonable price, technical feasibility (e.g., suitability for automatic packaging machines, sealability), suitability for food contact, low environmental stress and suitability for recycling or refilling. A package has to satisfy all these various requirements effectively and economically. Some requirements and demands are contradictory to each other, at least to some extent. For these reasons, a modern food package should be optimised and integrated effectively with the food supply chain. In this book, package optimisation is discussed in detail in Chapter 21 and integrating active packaging, storage and distribution in Chapter 25.

For a long time packaging has also had an active role in processing, preservation and in retaining quality of foods. Changes in the way food products are produced, distributed, stored and retailed, reflecting the continuing increase in consumer demand for improved safety, quality and extended shelf-life for packaged foods, are placing greater demands on the performance of food packaging. Consumers want to be assured that the packaging is fulfilling its function of protecting the quality, freshness and safety of foods. The trend to ensure the quality and safety of food without, or at least fewer, additives and preservatives means that packaging has a more significant role in the preservation of food and in ensuring the safety of food in order to avoid wastage and food poisoning and to reduce allergies.

In this chapter active and intelligent packaging are introduced.

Various terms for new packaging methods can be found in the literature, such as active, smart, interactive, clever or intelligent packaging. These terms are often more or less undefined. For this reason, twelve partners from research and industry formulated the joint definitions for active and intelligent packaging systems in a European study ’Evaluating Safety, Effectiveness, Economic-environmental Impact and Consumer Acceptance of Active and Intelligent Packaging (ACTIPAK-FAIR CT98-4170)’ in the years 1999–2001. The main objective of the study was to establish and implement active and intelligent packaging systems within the relevant regulations for food packaging in Europe. The project was coordinated by Mr Nico deKruijf, TNO, the Netherlands.^{1, 2}

According to the definitions of the Actipak project, active and intelligent packaging are:

• Active packaging changes the condition of the packed food to extend shelf-life or to improve safety or sensory properties, while maintaining the quality of the packaged food.

• Intelligent packaging systems monitor the condition of packaged foods to give information about the quality of the packaged food during transport and storage.

2.2 Active packaging techniques

Food condition in the definition of active packaging includes various aspects that may play a role in determining the shelf-life of packaged foods, such as physiological processes (e.g., respiration of fresh fruit and vegetables), chemical processes (e.g., lipid oxidation), physical processes (e.g., staling of bread, dehydration), microbiological aspects (e.g., spoilage by micro-organisms) and infestation (e.g., by insects). Through the application of appropriate active packaging systems these conditions can be regulated in numerous ways and, depending on the requirements of the packaged food, food deterioration can be significantly reduced.¹

Active packaging techniques for preservation and improving quality and safety of foods can be divided into three categories; absorbers (i.e. scavengers) (Table 2.1), releasing systems (Table 2.2) and other systems (Table 2.3). Absorbing (scavenging) systems remove undesired compounds such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, ethylene, excessive water, taints and other specific compounds (Table 2.1). Releasing systems actively add or emit compounds to the packaged food or into the head-space of the package such as carbon dioxide, antioxidants and preservatives (Table 2.2). Other systems may have miscellaneous tasks, such as self-heating, self-cooling and preservation (Table 2.3).

Table 2.1

Examples of sachet, label and film type absorbing (scavenging) active packaging ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright page
• Contributor contact details
• 1: Introduction
• Part I: Types and roles of active and intelligent packaging
• Part II: Developments in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)
• Part III: Novel packaging and particular products
• Part IV: General issues
• Index