Design and testing of Modified Atmosphere Packaging of cow’s ricotta

Abstract

The aim of this work is to evaluate the shelf life of cow’s ricotta under MAP (Modified Atmosphere Packaging).
MAP is a packaging technique commonly used in the food industry in order to control the microbial growth.
After the extraction of the air present in the headspace of the package, a mixture of CO2, O2 and N2 in different percentage is usually introduced before the packaging sealing. Based on these premises, a design of experimental tests has been created in order to evaluate the effect of each process parameters. To perform these test, it is also required the creation of thermoformed trays (made with a multilayer material using PET/EVOH/PE) in which the ricotta was inserted and packaged in a modified atmosphere. After the time intervals established in the experimental program, the analysis of the MAP was carried out using a special instrument (“Oxybaby” made by Witt SpA), able to measure the quantity of gas present in the headspace of the thermoformed trays. Then a statistical analysis of the obtained results was carried out. The results showed that after 10 days the product was edible for all types of atmosphere, but at 20 and, especially, at 30 days, even in the trays wrapped with CO2, the product was not acceptable for human consumption. One of the possible solutions, in order to lengthen the shelf life of cow’s ricotta, consists in the pre-sterilization of the trays before the product packaging with a solution of H2O2. 

Cow’s Ricotta | MAP | Gas Mixture | Trays

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