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Free‐Volume Changes in Flexible, Hermetic Packages Containing Respiring Produce
Author(s) -
TALASILA PANCHANADHAM C.,
CAMERON ARTHUR C.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1997.tb15430.x
Subject(s) - volume (thermodynamics) , flushing , polyethylene , chemistry , dilution , analytical chemistry (journal) , transient (computer programming) , materials science , chromatography , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , medicine , physics , computer science , endocrinology , operating system
To investigate free‐volume changes in flexible, sealed packages containing respiring fruits and vegetables, a simple method based on the dilution of an injected gas (ethane) in the package was developed. Free‐volume decreased steadily at ∼3 cm 3 /day after an initial transient period in low‐density polyethylene packages (29‐μm‐thick film; 600‐cm 2 surface area; initial free volume ∼285 cm 3 ) containing 40g of cut broccoli held at 0°C. A general transient model was developed that showed that free‐volume changes in flexible packages were a function of differential film O 2 , CO 2 , and N 2 permeabilities and differential product O 2 uptake and CO 2 production rates. The model predicted that flushing packages with low permeative gases would decrease free‐volume depletion rate, whereas flushing with highly permeative gases, such as CO 2 , would increase the initial rate considerably.