Earticle

Enzyme kinetics-based respiration model can be effectively used for estimating respiration rate in O2 consumption and CO2 production of fresh produce as a function of O2 and CO2 concentrations. Arrhenius equation can be applied to describe the temperature dependence of the respiration rate. Parameters of enzyme kinetics-based respiration model and activation energy of Arrhenius equation were compiled from analysis of literature data and closed system experiment. They enable to estimate the respiration rate for any modified atmosphere conditions at temperature of interest and thus can be used for design of modified atmosphere packaging of fresh produce.

The increase of international and domestic trade according to global industrialization and economic growth has raised the national logistic cost in connection with physical distribution of articles. In order to reduce these costs and rise up national industrial competitiveness, Korea has also tried to improve the efficiency of logistics with various methods as advanced countries did. Especially, Korea government has decided standard dimension of pallets with T11 (1100×1100 mm) on the basis of unit load system in early 2000s, and certification program for logistics equipments has been operated to keep up the compatibility for the equipments and packaging with modulation of T11. Consequently, this certification program has contributed to extend standardization for logistics and to grow up 3 party logistics, but compared with advanced countries, the rate of national logistics cost to GDP (gross domestic product) still shows about 3% gap as demands for certification have been decreased in the recent. In this study, therefore, we proposed the development of logistics certification system based on social needs as a policy device to activate logistic industry as well as improve the efficiency of national logistics after we had analyzed all of certification programs for logistics being run in Korea. Namely, the first is the development of certification project for Northeast Asia's logistics corresponding to necessity for applying returnable transport system according to increasing the amount of trade between Northeast Asia's countries. The second is the development of certification project for safe transportation of packaging corresponding to costumer's needs for safe transit according to the growth of electronic commerce and the increase of global distribution.

The carton for liquid products are divided into ‘gable top carton’ and ‘aseptic carton’. Currently, these packages are being recycled in the toilet tissue manufacturing process. The recycling of the carton aluminium laminate is the most important problem facing the recycling procedure of the carton packages due to the reduction in quality of recycled materials. The polymer structure with synthetic resins being used mainly in beverage packaging is also one of the important factors for the procedure for its recycling. The objective of this study was to investigate the package material and structure of the carton for liquid products through marketing research and suggest the supplementation in the work processes of production, use, and recycling. The results represent to improve the recycling profit and the quality of recycled materials when a laminated aluminium of carton for liquid products is replaced to the transparent polymer film. The improvement of the sorting and recycling process may help their recycling efficiencies. In addition, the limited use of synthetic resin molded packaging and increase of wood-pulp collection rate will provide the improvement of the recycling profit and the quality of recycled materials.

Heating patterns depending on the packaging materials were examined in order to investigate the causes of thermal deformation of packages used for ready-to-eat foods for microwave heating due to the non-uniformity of microwaves. Physical properties including tensile strength, heat-resistance and elongation of four different CPP grades were compared. High retortable CPP had higher sealing strength and heat resistance compared to the conventional CPPs. All CPP samples tested were proved to have melting temperatures around 160oC. However, they were all thermally deformed by microwave heating due to a limited penetration of microwave and non-uniform heating within the spicy sauce of high viscosity contained high salt, especially on the above the filling line and sealing edge of pouches. When the laminated stand-up pouches composed of G-PET/PET/PET/CPP and G-PET/PET/NY/CPP were retorted and microwaved, significant deformations were noticed in both samples after retorting. Besides, pouches contained titanium dioxide showed more intense thermal deformation than the control. When the 10 μm aluminium foil was affixed on the pouch, small thermal deformation was observed only in the bottom layer. More studies are required to prevent the thermal deformation of packaging materials used for RTE foods during microwave heating by developing the technologies to increase the thermal stability of CPP layer and the modification of packaging design to modify the microwave access into the package.

Effect of packaging and storage methods for enhancing the shelf life and improving the postharvest quality of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) was studied during high temperature period. Lettuces were packed using four packaging and storage types: (A) plastic box container (control); (B) plastic box container covered with high density polyethylene (HDPE) film; (C) plastic box container with lettuce wrapped in linear low-density polyethylene (LLD-PE) film; and (D) plastic box container with lettuce with its stem. The quality parameters, such as fresh weight loss, SPAD value, and appearance of lettuce were investigated. The lettuce wrapped with LLD-PE film inside the plastic box container showed the lowest weight loss, highest SPAD value and best appearance compared to those exposed to the other packaging and storage methods during the three-week storage at 2oC. The results indicate that the marketability of lettuce can be optimized if proper packaging and storing is adopted. Prolonging the freshness even on low temperature storage will increase the potential of its sale ability in the domestic market even during summer season.

The objective of this study was to evaluate quality properties including acid value (AV) and peroxide value (POV) of brown rice packaged with antioxidant allyl mercaptan sachet or oxygen scavenging sachet. To prepare the antioxidant allyl mercaptan sachet, allyl mercaptan was encapsulated by rice flour and put in small roll paper pouch. The oxygen scavenging sachet consists of diatomite, sodium L-ascorbate and activated carbon. The results of this study showed that antioxidant allyl mercaptan sachet had no antioxidant effect on deterioration of brown rice, but oxygen scavenging sachet effectively inhibited rancidity of brown rice. Therefore, the developed oxygen scavenging sachet can be effectively utilized in food packaging system for quality stability.