Food MArketing & Technology In India Food Marketing & Technology In India Vol 10 | Page 40

Packaging
production, water vapour removal,
dried and sensitive foods, ethylene
removal,
horticultural
produce,
ethanol release etc. The packaging has
been successful for extending shelf
life of vegetables, fruits, and meat
products.
ADVANCES IN
PACKAGING
BY: DR. TANU JAIN*
I
n the present time, consumers’
lives are getting busier. Due to
lack of time, they have become
more demanding.
They’re asking
for smarter packaging tailored to
their needs to spend less time in the
kitchen. At the same time, they’re
also concerned about quality of food.
It should be fresh, nutritious and safe
for consumption. Packaging delivers
products to consumers in perfect
condition. Well-designed packaging
meets the requirements of the product
while minimizing economic and
environmental impacts of both the
product and its package. But, now
much more is expected from packaging.
To resolve all these problems, we have
made more advancement in packaging
for consumers. Not only, are they safe
for consumption but also enhance
and maintain the nutritional quality
of food. We are talking about active
packaging, MAP, edible films and
coatings.
Active Packaging
Active packaging is considered
as smart, convenient and safe for
consumers. It has a packaging material
that interacts with the internal gas
environment to increase shelf life
of a food. The technology works on
the modification of gas environment
and interacts with the surface of the
food by removal or addition of gases.
Recent innovations involve use of
chemical scavengers to absorb a gas
or alternatively other chemicals that
may release a specific gas as required.
A few areas for applications of
active packaging are carbon dioxide
Modified Atmospheric
Packaging (MAP)
In MAP, composition of internal
atmosphere of package is modified to
improve shelf life of food products.
Oxygen is responsible for the
degradation of quality of food product.
Therefore, oxygen which varies from
20.9 percent to 0 percent is decreased
to slow down the growth of aerobic
organisms. Oxygen is further replaced
with nitrogen or carbon dioxide,
which lowers pH or inhibits growth of
bacteria. Rebalancing of gases inside
packaging can be achieved using active
techniques such as gas flushing and
compensated vacuum by designing
“breathable” films. This is known as
equilibrium modified atmosphere
packaging (EMAP). Barrier films are
designed to prevent the exchange
of gases. They are used with non-
respiring products like meat and fish.
Permeable films are used for fruits and
vegetables.
Edible Films and Coatings
Edible film is a thin layer of edible
material which provides a barrier to
moisture, oxygen and solute movement
for the food. The material can be a
complete food coating or disposed
as a continuous layer between food
components. Edible films can be
formed as food coatings and free-
standing films. It may be applied
as wrapping, brushing, spraying,
immersing. The material for film may
be hydrocolloids, lipids or composites.
Hydrocolloids are water based
colloidal mixtures of proteins like
casein, wheat gluten, gelatin, soy, whey
and/or polysaccharides like starches,
cellulose derivatives–alginate, pectin
etc. The film has poor resistance to
water vapour as it contains hydrophilic
Food Marketing & Technology
40
August 2019