Nuts and snack foods is useful to be packed with the moderately experienced foods that are stored at room temperature and whose water activity values are between 0.80-0.90. These foods, which contain moderate humidity and are kept at room temperature, are packaged either in an atmosphere containing more than 50% CO2 or in vacuum in order to prevent mold growth. Potato chips, peanuts and similar fatty dry foods are highly susceptible to oxidative blight. Likewise, O2 must be present on the dry food packaging medium.
Dry Food Packaging
In order to keep the physiological changes that take place in fruits and vegetables under control and to extend the storage process, the common method is cold storage. Another method that has become increasingly important in this area, especially in recent years, is the storage in a controlled atmosphere, which is an additional uvulation to strengthen the effect of the cold in reality.
The foods with the most common method of packaging in a modified atmosphere are fruits and vegetables. By storing such foods under an atmosphere where low O2 and high CO2 concentrations are effective, respiratory rates and ethylene production slow down. As a result; ripening is delayed, the consumption of sugars and acids in its composition is limited, the moisture and heat formation that develops due to respiration decreases, chlorine breakdown and enzymatic browning is curbed or ended. In developed countries, especially with the application of modified atmosphere of sliced vegetables, prolonging their shelf life has been successful in commercial maintenance.
It is useful to know the parameters that affect the system so that MAP technique can be applied to breathing foods such as fruits and vegetables as perfectly as possible. The most important of these parameters are; Sensory and microbiological quality of the raw material, the production of ethylene and the sensitivity of the product to ethylene, respiration, storage temperature, packaging material, gas composition in the packaging, relative humidity of the packaging atmosphere. For a product packaged in a modified atmosphere, the correct use of these parameters increases the endurance time and also has a protective effect on quality.
