Study of mutagenic effects of a packaging system with oxygen absorbers on sweet bakery products

In the present study, the potential mutagenic effects of a packaging system for food containing oxygen absorbers was evaluated on a popular sweet bakery product (glazed doughnuts) stored at 20oC along its extended self life by using the Salmonella typhimurium Histest with the tester strains TA98, TA100, TA1535 and TA1537 and Escherichia coli Trptest with strains WP2uvrA and WP2uvrA pKM101. All samples were assayed in the presence and absence of an exogenous metabolizing system (S9 from rat liver). During the study, 3 lots were prepared and analysed: lot 1 consisted of control samples without absorber sachets. In lot 2 one oxygen absorber sachet was added into the package and in lot 3 two oxygen absorbers were used. All samples were packaged in high barrier pouches and stored at 20oC along the shelf life of the product, determined in other study as 4 days for control samples and 8 days for samples packaged with oxygen absorbers. As it was expected, the active concept itself did not show mutagenic activity. In addition, the control samples and samples in contact with the oxygen scavengers were also negatives in all sampling times (at days 0, 5 and 10). These results support the safe use of this type of active packaging to extend the shelf life of commercial doughnuts because the interactions between the bakery product and the package system did not represent a risk for the consumer health under the conditions tested.