Modified atmosphere flow pack packaging

Retailers can now extend shelf-life and reduce produce wastage with Sammo Group’s new flow pack machine designed exclusively for StePac’s Xtend® modified atmosphere/modified humidity (MA/MH) packing films. A major European supplier of advanced post-harvest equipment, including sorting, packaging and palletization machines, Sammo’s Xtend dedicated flow pack machine has optional top or bottom reels, a capacity of 30 packages of 500 g/min and comes with a wide range of accessories. Xtend MA/MH technology, prolongs shelf-life, minimizes dehydration and prevents the decay of fresh produce through the combined effect of modified atmosphere, modified humidity and condensation control. Each Xtend film is developed specifically for the vegetable or fruit required to be packed on the flow pack line.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Fish preservation may boost consumption

Researchers at Australia’s Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI) are adapting ancient preservation technologies, which use spices from native food plant products. According to Dr. Roger Stanley, DPI is hoping to see the preservative used in convenience fish-fillet packs on supermarket shelves within a year. Dr. Stanley says adding spices to the product also creates a unique flavour. “A lot of these products – an example people would know would be lemon myrtle – do taste, but in this case we are trying to select products which actually have an agreeable [taste],” said Dr. Stanley said. “Lemon flavour with a fish product is something that we would try and do anyway.”.

Source: www.abc.net.au

Hefestus Ltd., Israel has developed a packaging system based on the patented, no-vacuum process to extend the shelf-life of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables to 14 days. Even highly sensitive products do not appear to suffer any negative effects in terms of structure or appearance when packaged utilizing this system, which creates a protective atmosphere containing just 1 per cent oxygen. The innovation is anticipated to enable producers to supply new, more distant markets with fresh products.

Furthermore, Hefestus will be supplying the right packaging machinery for the new technology. Its new Hera processes up to 1,200 units/h, which makes it one of the fastest packaging machines in the world. Contact: Mr. Ron Golan, Hefestus Ltd., P.O. Box 3116, Caesarea 38900, Israel. Tel: +972 (4) 6271 835; Fax: +972 (4) 6271 876; E-mail: Hefestus1@Hefestus-slb.com; Website: www.hefestus-slb.com.


Source: www.freshplaza.com

Casein: natural antioxidant boosts shelf-life of meat
In Brazil, Ms. Karina Rossini and co-workers at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul have reported that enzymatic hydrolysis of casein produced smaller peptides, which could prevent the spoilage of meat products. This development could offer formulators a natural antioxidant for beef and poultry products. The research tapped into growing interest in natural food additives as replacements to synthetic antioxidants.
Typically, oxidative deterioration of meat and its products is caused by the degradation reactions of fats and pigments. Oxidation processes in food can lead to organoleptic deterioration in taste, colour and texture The researchers utilized the commercial enzymes Flavourzyme and Alcalase (Novozymes) to hydrolyse casein. The resulting peptides from Flavourzyme were found to contain more soluble protein and free amino acids than Alcalase. Measures of the peptides’ antioxidant activity revealed that those peptides produced from Flavourzyme had higher values compared with those obtained with Alcalase. When formulated into ground beef homogenates and mechanically de-boned poultry meat, the researchers found that the casein peptides “effectively inhibited lipid peroxidation” in the beef (100 per cent inhibition) and poultry (by 21 per cent) product, and thereby produced an extension of the products’ shelf-lives.


Source: www.ap-foodtechnology.com