Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Evaluation of locally made modified atmosphere packaging for Egyptian green beans

Author(s):

Khaled T. Youssef ¹, Randa D. Mohamed ¹, Rehab Ahmed ²

Recieved Date: 2010-01-11, Accepted Date: 2010-04-16

Abstract:

This research aimed at investigating whether the locally made plastic bags are suitable as modified atmosphere packaging for fresh Egyptian green beans (Bronco) for export. The beans were packed into two kinds of plastic bags; imported micro perforated Poly Oriented Polypropylene (POP) with thickness of 50 µm (it is used for exporting the Egyptian green beans) and locally made low density polyethylene continuous films (LDPE) with different thicknesses of 30, 40 and 50 µm. Measurements were conducted every third day up to 15 days on packages stored at room temperature and at 7°C, 90% RH. Measurements included weight loss, permeability to O₂ and CO₂ and color. Results indicated that polyethylene bags with thickness of 30µm were the best in preserving the weight at room temperature and bags with thickness of 50µm were the best at 7°C. The highest percentage of weight loss occurred with the perforated polyethylene film. The permeability to O₂ and CO₂ differed substantially between continuous and perforated films and resulted in considerable differences in gas exchange trend as we observed few changes in O₂ concentration values with perforated polypropylene film up to 6 days while there were considerable differences in O₂ exchange trend with polyethylene 30, 40 and 50µm films at room temperature. The highest decrease in O₂ concentration was observed with polyethylene 50µm but the pinholes in polypropylene film led to constant O₂ level and a small change during the whole period of storage at 7°C. The increase of CO₂ concentration was neglected with perforated polypropylene film while it was considerable with polyethylene 30, 40 and 50µm films at room temperature. The greatest increase of CO₂ concentration was observed with 50µm, but at 7°C, the perforated polypropylene film gave tiny increase of CO₂ level and the polyethylene with the three thicknesses gave inconsistent increase in CO₂ levels. The green color of beans became lighter as “L” value increased with all films at room temperature during the whole period whilst at 7°C the “L” value was almost preserved. The initial measurement showed that the color was deep greenish yellow and became strong yellowish green at the end of the period with all samples at room temperature but the color didn’t change and kept deep greenish yellow with all samples at 7°C. Thus, modified atmosphere packaging made from polyethylene maintained the overall quality of green beans when compared to perforated polypropylene film.

Keywords:

Green beans, modified atmosphere packaging, permeability, weight loss, color

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2010
Volume: 8
Issue: 2
Category: Food and Health
Pages: 280-283

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