Predicting the headspace oxygen level due to oxygen permeation across multilayer polymer packaging materials: A practical software simulation tool

Abstract

Abstract The shelf life of a food product is largely determined by its chemical and microbiological stability. In this respect, the gas composition surrounding a packaged product plays a major role. Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is a packaging technique that usually reduces the headspace oxygen to a preferable minimum for most food products. Besides the residual oxygen, the O 2 -permeability of the packaging material is also important, as it determines the amount of oxygen permeating into the package during storage. This paper describes the development of a practical software simulation tool to predict the amount of oxygen permeating into the headspace during storage for a variety of multilayer packaging configurations. The simulation tool gives access to simulation models for mono- and multilayer films, trays covered with top foils and bottles with caps. The user can compose his/her own (multilayer) packaging material and check the oxygen ingress over time for different temperature conditions for all packaging configurations. Industrial relevance The software simulation tool is of industrial relevance to food companies, as they can use it to select or compare different films, but also to underpin their choice for a certain packaging material with regard to the sensitivity of the food product to oxygen and the desirable shelf life. The simulation program also provides food companies with information about the influence of storage conditions, like time and temperature, on the ingress of oxygen in their food package throughout the storage-distribution chain. On the other hand, it can also be used by packaging suppliers to predict the oxygen permeability in the optimization process of new films and as a client support tool.