Earticle

The production, distribution, and consumption of Korean medicinal herbs have increased every year because of an increase of health considerations. But there are no sufficient standardization procedures in packaging and distribution systems related to these herb products. The standardization of packaging material and dimension could be a good addition for establishing proper quality control methods for Korean medicinal herbs. Medicinal herbs deteriorate under physical, chemical and biological hazards such as oxidation, textural change under high moisture content, color change by light, sanitation problems by insect invasion and contamination. Packaging standardization with proper functional packaging materials is critical to ensure the qualities of medicinal herbs. Also, storage and distribution efficiencies can be improved by achieving packaging dimension standardization. This review summarizes recent research trends related to quality evaluation methods and major quality deterioration factors of Korean medicinal herbs. This paper also offers reviews on some of problems and challenges in current packaging and distribution systems of medicinal herb industries and briefly suggests advanced quality control methods through packaging standardization.

본 연구에서는 옹기의 특성에 대한 과학적인 규명을 위 해 흙의 종류와 유약의 도포 정도를 달리하여 옹기를 제작, 그 특성을 과학적으로 규명하고자 하였으며, 고추장을 발효 시키는 과정에서 성분 변화에 미치는 영향을 알아보고자 하 였다. 흙의 성분 중 소성시 융제로 작용하는 CaO, MgO, K2O, Na2O의 합이 황토에서 높게 나타났으나 황토, 옹기 토, 분쇄토간의 차이가 크지 않아 기공율에 큰 영향을 주지 못할 것으로 고려된다. 따라서 기공율의 차이는 흙의 입도 차에 의해 영향을 받을 것으로 생각되며, 실험결과 역시 분쇄토의 함량에 따라 기공율에 차이를 보 였다. 또한 유약은 천연유약으로 소성시 융제로 작용하는 CaO, MgO, K2O, Na2O가 흙보다 많이 함유되어 유약으로서 적절한 것으로 판단되었다. 흡수율에 있어서 분쇄토의 혼합율에 따라 옹기 의 기공율이 높게 나타났다. 원적외선 방사율은 유약을 도 포한 면에서 도포하지 않은 면보다 높게 나타났다. 기공율 을 달리한 용기에서 고추장 발효시 환원당의 변화는 분쇄 토 0%인 P0-BG구에서 높은 수준을 유지하다 감소하였고, 총질소는 분쇄토 30%인 P30-BG가 가장 높았고, 고추장의 저장 중 맛에 관여하는 아미노태 질소 함량의 변화는 분쇄 토 0%인 P0-BG구가 초기 158 mg%에서 발효 4개월 째 260 mg% 함량으로 가장 높게 나타났다. 아미노태 질소 함 량의 변화는 핵산의 변화와 함께 관능검사 결과와 거의 동 일하게 나타났다. 관능검사의 경우 제품의 색상, 냄새, 맛 그리고 종합적인 평가에 있어서 용기간의 유의적인 차이가 나타났으며 특히, 분쇄토 0%인 P0-BG구가 가장 긍정적으 로 작용하는 것으로 나타났다.

This research investigated the effect of different onggi containers (Korean earthenware) on the ripening of kochujang (Korean hot pepper paste). The physical characteristics of ‘onggi’, were evaluated as function of manufacturing variables such as raw material soils (onggi-specific soil, red brown soil, and fine powdered soil) and galzing treatments. The physical properties were then related to the compositional quality changes of the kochujang fermented at 30oC for 4 months. The porosity of the onggi containers seems to be increased by the content of finer raw soil rather than the chemical component of soil (amount of CaO, MgO, K2O and Na2O, acting as melting aid in the firing). Natural glaze was measured to contain higher contents of CaO, MgO, K2O and Na2O than the other soils, which is desirable property for the fired onggi. The glazed surface showed higher far-infrared radiation emissivity than the non-glazed part. The kochujang fermented in P0-BG (the glazed onggi from 100 % onggi soil) attained higher concentration of reducing sugar, amino nitrogen and nucleotides compared to those in the other onggis. All of these changes of kochujang in P0-BG resulted in significantly better sensory quality than the other treatments.

Packaged food products often undergo retort processing, a thermal processing in a pressurized vessel called a retort, to ensure their microbiological safety or shelf-stability under normal non-refrigerated conditions of storage and distribution. Retort processing is generally aimed to accomplish commercial sterility of packaged foods with acceptable nutritional and sensorial qualities. Fundamental principles on retort processing, such as thermal resistance kinetics of target microorganism, heat penetration theory, and methods for evaluating process sterility and food quality loss, were reviewed. Factors affecting process severity, heat transfer mechanism, and heat penetration efficiency were summarized. General features of retortable packaging formats including metal cans, glass jars, and plastic packages were also briefly reviewed.

A respiration rate analysed by enzyme kinetics-based respiration model and gas permeability data of LDPE film were applied to design the optical modified atmosphere (MA) packaging condition of persimmon (Diospyros kaki cv. Fuyu) fruits. The fruit quality rapidly decreases due to physiology disorder such as softening and peel blackening. O2 permeance (QO2 in mlㆍhr−1ㆍatm−1ㆍm−2) and CO2 permeance (QCO2 in mlㆍhr−1ㆍatm−1ㆍm−2) of low density polyethylene (LDPE) film samples were measured at 0oC and described as function of thickness (L in μm) as QO2 = (2540×1/L)-16, and QCO2 = (13742×1/L)-70, respectively. MA package containing single persimmon fruit of 225g was designed and tested experimentally at 0oC by using LDPE films. Package atmospheres predicted from the relationship of O2, CO2 and N2 balances on the packages was in good agreement with those obtained experimentally. Physiology disorder occurrence was the lowest at 52 μm package that attained optimum gas condition (O2 2.8% and CO2 5.4%). The computer simulation was found to be effective to help to design the optimum MA packaging condition of individual persimmon fruit.

Regulation of food packaging in Korea, Eurpoe and USA are surveyed. Food packaging manufacturer or converter has a responsibility to evaluate the safety of migration of harmful materials from typical finished packaging items. The ‘overall migration limit’ of all components from the packaging and ‘specific migration limits(SML)’ of monomers or additives are evaluated with food simulants, water, acetic acid, ethanol and n-heptane, based on the regulations of the countries. A substance not regulated has to be authorized with the technical data required, information on chemical identity, physical chemical and other properties, the intended use, migration studies and toxicological studies.