Packaging and the Shelf Life of Milk Powder Products

Abstract

Milk powder products as fatty dry foods are generally sensitive to moisture-adsorption, caking and oxidative deterioration. It is desirable that products with a water activity below 0.5 and a package of oxygen concentration below 2% are kept at storage temperatures below 25°C for quality preservation and extended shelf life. Oxygen-excluded packages are usually used with barriers against ingress of water vapor and oxygen. A light barrier is another element for protecting against oxidation. Typical packages are metal cans, multilayer barrier pouches and composite cans. Additional attributes are also added onto the packaging to satisfy other needs such as convenience and communication depending on the product. Time temperature indictors showing real-time secondary shelf life are a recent development. While both nitrogen and carbon dioxide are employed for oxygen-excluded packages to prevent oxidation, carbon dioxide dissolvable in the product serves a role to control or reduce the pressure of rigid packages at proper gas mixture under distribution environment. Innovative preservative packaging technologies such as tailored modified atmosphere packaging and active packaging can be adopted to retain milk powder quality and extend the shelf life with additional benefits and effectiveness. Fast and persistent oxygen and moisture scavenging and antioxidant packaging have also been used.