Earticle

We studied the consumer preference for the packaging of “Samgyetang” retort product in order to improve its function and design. A total of 319 eligible respondents (male 175, female 144) were surveyed with a questionnaire asking on the general characteristics for the preference of the packaging function, type of retort package, packaging design, convenience, cooking method of retort product and characteristics of “Samgyetang” retort product. The collected data was analyzed using a chi-square (X2) statistical test in SPSS program. The results showed that the retort packages with opacity and microwaveable types were preferred. Also, most respondents expressed that it needs to be improved for cooking convenience. Another question results showed that the consumers are considering the taste and cost of a product more important than the brand of its product when purchasing. Based on the results of the questionnaire, the study suggested that many consumers want the convenience of packaging and product protection for high value added product. The results help to provide consumer’s demand for packaging development and to provide the greatest advantages in terms of production and marketability of “Samgyetang” retort product.

The foreign trends of noncompliance occurring frequently in food contact materials during the period of 2011-2019 was investigated by analyzing the food safety risk information DB in the National Food Safety Information Service (NFSI). A total of 2,042 cases of noncompliance of food utensils, containers, and packages were classified into 5 violation categories; administrative procedures, manufacturing and processing standards, residues and migration standards, labeling and advertising, and quality standards. This was again subcategorized according to non-compliance causative factors. The non-compliances in residues and migration standards comprised the largest proportion (76.4%) of the violative categories. The number of noncompliance information collected in 2011 was 88 cases and increased to 373 cases in 2019. A 72.8% of the non-compliance case was identified to be products of 4 countries (China 64.2%, Germany 4.0%, Japan 3.2%, and Taiwan 3.1%), those produce large quantities of containers and packaging products. During the period of 2011-2019, the number of illegal use of hazardous materials and illegal recycling of waste synthetic resins has decreased to less than one a year since 2014. On the other hand, after 2016, inconsistency of heat-resisting temperature labeling (Taiwan), non-compliance in paper container’s strength standards, violation of printing standards, and the risk of consumer injury while using the products were newly reported due to the strengthening of consumer safety protection regulations. Migration of hazardous substances in synthetic polymer products such as heavy metals, melamine and formaldehyde in melamine tableware, primary aromatic amines which are colorant components in kitchenware such as ladles and spatulas, and phthalate plasticizers have been continuously reported with high frequency.

Advances in food packaging play an important role in keeping food manufacturing and food supply safe. Food packaging facilitates the storage, handling, transportation and preservation of food, and also contributes to the minimization of food waste. On the other hand, food packaging materials have high production volumes, short usage times, and accelerate the occurrence of environmental problems related to waste. The circular economy has already been introduced to pursue sustainability through resource conservation and recycling, and to reduce waste and carbon emissions. By activating an eco-friendly economic system that minimizes resource depletion and environmental pollution, reducing, reusing, recycling and redesigning the goals of the circular economy will reduce the impact of food packaging on the environment. This review focused on the safety aspects of recycled food packaging as recycling is currently considered an important means of packaging waste management. Assessing the safety of recycled packaging is very important because recycling can increase the levels of potentially hazardous chemicals in packaging and in the food after they are migrated. Various food packaging materials such as plastic, paper and cardboard, aluminum, steel, and multi-material multi-layers packaging are commonly used, but only the recycling safety of plastic food packaging materials, which is the most used and has a significant increase in post-use problem, is discussed in this review.

The need for biodegradable plastic continues to increase, improvement of physical properties is necessary for actual use in the market. In this study, composite film was produced by adding peroxide additives to bioplastic according to concentration to investigate changes in the melt index, elongation, morphology, and TGA of the composite film. The addition of peroxide compatibilizer showed superior elongation of film and TGA compared to those of control. The added amount of compatibilizer affected the extrusion process, and it was revealed that adding an appropriate amount of peroxidizer is important. Analysis of the composite film‘s morphology revealed a heterogeneous dispersion sequence due to different rates of crystallization depending on the resin, and surface physical properties were best in the group added with 4% peroxide. The results above showed that the test group added with 4% peroxide compatibilizer was superior in the production of composite biodegradable film.

Today, plastic waste has become a critical social issue due to the increasing of plastic consumption. Korean annual per capita plastic consumption was 132 kg, the most plastic consuming country in the world. Internationally, Carbon Neutral Agreement is underway due to global warming, consumers' interest and needs for biomass-based plastics has also been increased. In this study, film was produced by adding composite use additives to the biomass-based plastics according to concentration, and the resulting changes in discharge volume, melt index, and tensile strength were investigated. Melt index (MI) was significantly higher in PLA and PBAT than in petroleum-based resin LLDPE and LDPE. Also, among the same resin or in the same treatment group, MI has been increased when the heating temperature is increased. The discharge volume and gravity of the BDP-2 to which 4% compatibilizer was added were found to be higher among all treatments, while the tensile strength of MD and TD was also higher. BDP-2 was suitable to the film producing methods for biodegradable film production.

Although it has recently been regulated for use as an eco-friendly policy in Korea, the use of EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) cooling boxes, which are used as cold chain delivery insulation boxes for fresh agricultural and livestock products, is also increasing rapidly as e-commerce logistics such as delivery have increased rapidly due to COVID-19. Studies were conducted to optimize the EPS cooling container through internal air heat flow of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis and FEM (Finite Element Method) random vibration analysis using domestic PSD (Power Spectral Density) profile of the EPS cooling box to which the refrigerant is applied in this study. In the analysis of the internal air heat flow by the refrigerant in the EPS cooling box, the application of vertical protrusions inside was excellent in volume heat flow and internal air temperature distribution. In addition, as a result of random vibration analysis, the internal vertical protrusion gives the rigid effect of the cooling box, so that displacement and stress generation due to vibration during transport are smaller than that of a general cooling container without protrusion. By utilizing the resonance point (frequency) of the EPS cooling box derived by the Model analysis of ANSYS Software, it can be applied to the insulation and cushion packaging design of the EPS product line, which is widely used as insulation and cushion materials.

The research was aimed to improve pre-harvest methods to maintain marketability in postharvest coniferous lettuce. Non-woven pots or plug plates were used to generate seedlings. No difference was found in growth characteristics of lettuce grown in non-woven pots vs plug plates. Since, seedling method with non-woven pots was convenient, lettuce harvested from non-woven pots used for water dipping treatment. The quality parameters, such as fresh weight loss, SPAD value, and appearance of lettuce were investigated after harvest. The lettuce with dipping treatment inside the plastic box container showed lower weight loss, higher SPAD value and better appearance compared to those exposed to the control (non-packaging) during the storage at 2oC. The treated plant showed higher SPAD and hue angle values 21.9 and 113.8o, respectively, compared to that of 18.8 and 108.3o, in non-treated plants. Therefore, it seems that the water dipping treatment is effective for storage method to maintain freshness of the lettuce. We showed the non-woven pot growing as a convenient seedling method for packaging treatment. Further studies will be continued to improve freshness postharvest of other horticultural crops.

This study was conducted to compare the quality of baby leaves grown under several temperature conditions and the storage properties of MA storage for romaine lettuce. It was grown for 5 weeks under an artificial light source (200 μmol·m-2·s-1) in a chamber at 21oC, 28oC, and 35oC. The growth and quality of red romaine lettuce that grown in different temperatures were investigated at the end of cultivation, and the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ethylene concentrations in the 20,000 cc OTR film and perforated film packed with lettuces were measured for 36 and 12 days, respectively. The red romaine lettuce baby leaf was examined for color, chlorophyll, and visual quality at the end of storage. The maximum quantum yield of baby leaf grown in different temperatures at 7days before the harvest was higher at 21oC and 28oC growth temperature treatments. On harvest day, the leaf length measured was longest at 28oC, and the leaf width was wider at 21oC and 28oC, and the number of leaves was similar to 5-6 at all cultivation temperatures. Leaf weight, root weight, and dry weight were found to be higher at 21oC, and tended to decrease as the cultivation temperature increased. The concentration of ethylene in the film of the MA storage treatments was maintained at 1~2 μL·L-1 until the end of storage in all treatments regardless of the cultivation temperature. Oxygen concentration in the MA treatment used 20,000 OTR film was maintained at around 19.5%, and carbon dioxide concentration around 1% that was satisfied the CA conditions. Both Hunter a* and b* values were generally higher in the MA storage treatment at the end of storage day. The chlorophyll content was decreased as the cultivation temperature increased, and was lower in the MA storage treatment than in the perforated film treatment. Visual quality was 3 points or higher in the MA storage treatment at 21oC growth treatment, and it was maintained marketability. As the above results, the growth of baby leaves of romaine lettuce was the best at 21oC treatment, and the lower the cultivation temperature, the longer the shelf life. And it was possible to extend the shelf life by 3 times by showing excellent visual quality at the MA storage treatment that satisfies the carbon dioxide concentration of CA condition until the end of storage day.

Patents for postharvest technology of fresh fruits, vegetables and mushrooms fluctuated in their filing number until the 2000s, but then there has been a steady increase in the 2010s, indicating that the technology has high growth potential in the international agricultural market. Using 551 valid patents for fresh fruits and 337 for fresh vegetables of 5 countries, patent trend of postharvest technology was analyzed in this study with two categorized technologies as packaging and storage. In Korea, patents from national research institutes such as the Korea Food Research Institute and Korea (Rural Development Administration) are dominated, and a number of patents for the postharvest storage of fresh vegetables by Mitsui Chemicals, a Japanese chemical company, have been registered. Agrofresh, a multinational company in the USA, holds a number of patents for postharvest storage of fresh fruit not only in its own country, but also in Japan and Europe. Postharvest technology of fresh fruits and vegetables was found to has a number of patents, mainly from national research institutes and multinational corporations, and this suggests that R&D and commercialization of the technologies are actively taking place.

With the development of package printing technology, the package has expanded from the basic function of protecting products to the marketing function through package design. Color, the visual element that composes the package design, is delivered to the consumer most quickly and effectively. As color marketing of these package designs expands, accurate color reproduction that the product wants to express is becoming more important. The color of an object is transmitted by absorption and scattering of light. Spectral reflectance refers to the intensity of light reflected by an object at different wavelengths by the spectral effect. As a result, the color of the object is expressed in various colors. Packaged printing inks have their own absorption and scattering coefficients, and the Kubelka-Munk model for color reproduction and prediction defines the relationship between these correlation coefficients through reflectance. In the Kubelka-Munk model for color reproduction and prediction, the relationship between the absorption and scattering coefficients (K/S) of printed material is predicted as the sum of the K/S values according to the mixing ratio of all color ink used. In this study, the reflectance of the measured print is reversely calculated at the mixing ratio of print ink using the Kubelka-Munk model. Through this, the relationship value of the ink-specific absorption/scattering coefficient constituting the final printed material is predicted. Delta E is derived through the predicted reflectance, and the similarity between the measured value and the predicted value is confirmed.