Packaging design for potato chips

Abstract

For many years modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) has been successfully used to prolong the shelf life of many products. One of the issues that still need to be addressed is the evaluation of the optimal head space gas composition (i.e., the initial head space gas composition that guarantees the longest shelf life to the product). An experimental evaluation of the optimal head space gas composition is usually avoided because it takes long time; instead, a rough estimation is generally made by means of empirical methods. In the present paper an evaluation of the optimal head space gas composition, based on the use of mathematical models able to predict the shelf life of the product, has been made for the specific case of potato chips. Two commercially used multilayer films have been analyzed, for both films the potato chip's shelf life can be substantially prolonged by varying the head space gas composition. In particular, replacing the currently used nitrogen with a mixture of nitrogen and water vapor, having a relative humidity ranging from 0.1% to 32%, yields an increase in the shelf life of the product as high as 80% for film 1 and 43% for film 2.