Modified Atmosphere Packaging: A Progressive Technology for Shelf-Life Extension of Fruits and Vegetables

Packaging and storage are the final phases in the food industry. Quality preservation, improving safety and reduction of postharvest losses waste are some objectives of the packaging engineering. One of techniques that widely used in packaging of fruits and vegetables are modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). In MAP for fresh fruits and vegetable the air of packaging headspace replaces with a predetermined atmospheric gases different in proportion from that of air. Oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen are the main gases used in MAP for injection to the headspace of pack. The choice and ratio of gases are very dependent upon the material that being packed. respiration rate of crop, O2 and CO2 permeability of package material, volume of headspace present inside the package and storage temperature are some factors that affect the quality of MA packaging. Polymeric films are widely used in MAP engineering. The most application of polymeric films for MAP are in flexible package structures. In many cases the plastic packaging films are combined with one another or with other materials such as paper or aluminum through coating, lamination, coextrusion and metallization processes. The equipment used in MAP is divided into two main categories: pillow wrap and chamber. Flexible pillow wrapping machines are composed of Horizontal Form-Fill-Seal (HFFS) machines and Vertical Form-Fill-Seal (VFFS) systems. This paper reviews some recent developments in MAP technology applied for fruits and vegetables.