Controlled and Modified Atmosphere Packaging

Emrah Kirtil and Mecit H Oztop, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
! 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

To prolong the shelf life of foods, it is crucial to minimize the rates of biochemical, enzymatic, and microbial degradation
reactions. Commonly, this is achieved by ensuring proper sanitation conditions during slaughter or harvesting, processing
foods to reduce water activity and damage enzyme functionality, and providing optimum temperature and relative
humidity conditions during storage (Kader et al., 1989). Despite these precautions, air surrounding the foods continues
to provide a suitable medium for oxidative rancidity reactions, as well as growth of aerobic microorganisms. Hence, alteration of the atmosphere around the food could help preserve its quality. Modied atmosphere packaging (MAP) is dened
as the enclosure of a packaged food with an optimal gas composition that is specically designed to extend its shelf life
and is different from atmospheric gas composition (Church and Parsons, 1995). In controlled atmosphere storage (CAS),
a xed predetermined concentration of gases is maintained by constant addition or removal of gases during storage of
unpackaged foods. In modied atmosphere (MA), unlike controlled atmosphere systems, no further control is exerted
over the food after modication of the initial gas composition (Robertson, 2012; Kader et al., 1989). The positive effects
of MA on preserving freshness of foods were rst reported in 1821, when Jacques Etienne Berard (a professor at School of
Pharmacy at Montpellier in France) claimed that storage of fruits and vegetables under low O2 concentrations retarded
ripening (Robertson, 2012). First commercial applications involved the use of CAS to safely transport fruits in the holds
of ships under decreased O2 concentrations (Davies, 1995; Mullan and McDowell, 2003). The increasing research on the
subject has made commercial packaging application available by early 1970s. The initial commercial applications concentrated on red meat, bacon, sh, processed meats, and cooked shellsh. Today, the high consumer demand for
longer-shelf-life foods without the addition of preservatives has made MAP available for a wide range of foods includingmeat, poultry, sh, bakery products, potato chips, cheeses, salads, fruits, and vegetables (Davies, 1995; Mullan and
McDowell, 2003; Robertson, 2012).
Table 1 lists some of the applications of MAP, with the gas compositions used (Parry, 1993). In most of the MAP foods, O2 is
completely excluded and replaced by either CO2 or N2 or a combination of both. Exceptionally, for fruit and vegetables, increased
respiration rates in the presence of oxygen result in with faster ripening and ethylene (C2H4) formation. That is why, to decrease the
rate of respiration, it is crucial to use the minimum O2 concentration possible without triggering anaerobic fermentation (Kader
et al., 1989; Yam and Lee, 1995). Similarly for red meat, oxygen cannot be excluded from the package as only in the presence of
O2, myoglobin can be maintained in its oxygenated form of oxymyoglobin which gives meat its signature attractive red appearance
(Robertson, 2012).
CAS and MAP, though simple in concept and execution, are very effective and increasingly applied to many foods, providing
increased shelf lives for low costs. Considering how effective and cost-efcient these technologies are, they might prove to be
one of the most dominant preservation techniques in the twenty-rst century.

Table 1

Recommended gas mixtures for modied atmosphere packaging (Parry, 1993)

Product

Oxygen (%)

Carbon dioxide (%)

Nitrogen (%)

Red meat
Cooked/cured meat
Poultry
Fish (oily)
Hard cheese
Soft cheese
Bread
Nondairy cakes
Dairy cakes
Pasta (fresh)
Fruits and vegetables
Dried/roasted foods

6085

25

6070

35

1540
2035
75
60
100
30
3040
60

35

6580

Reference Module in Food Sciences

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.03376-X

40

70

40
100
100
8595
100

Controlled and Modified Atmosphere Packaging

References
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Davies, A.R., 1995. Advances in modied-atmosphere packaging. In: Gould, G.W. (Ed.), New Methods of Food Preservation SE 14. Springer, US, pp. 304320. Available at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2105-1_14.
Kader, A.A., Zagory, D., Kerbel, E.L., 1989. Modied atmosphere packaging of fruits and vegetables. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr. 28 (1), 130.
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Robertson, G.L., 2012. Food Packaging: Principles and Practice. Taylor & Francis.
Yam, K.L., Lee, D.S., 1995. Design of modied atmosphere packaging for fresh produce. In: Active Food Packaging.