Vacuum packaging, a food safety approach

Foods are perishable or deteriorative by nature. The preservation, processing and storage of the food are vital for the continuous supply of foods.

Nowadays food packaging is a multifunctional participant in the food industry. The most important additional function of the packaging method was to prolong the shelf-life of the food product.

There are a lot of conventional preservation methods in food packaging based on reduced oxygen atmosphere surrounding the product. Vacuum packaging and Modified atmosphere packaging are one of the typical representatives.

Vacuum packaging is evacuated and closed, leaving a very low amount of air, especially oxygen (O₂) in contact with the food.

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) means that an atmosphere with a gas composition different from that of atmospheric air is created in the package.

MAP is a technique that involves first to make vacuum and second to flush the pack with a certain gas mixture with functional role. Selection of the used gases depends on the role of each gas, the food product type, film permeability, storage conditions after packaging and so on.