Abstract
The presence of oxygen causes deterioration of oxygen-sensitive foodstuffs. This leads to a deterioration of quality characteristics like colour, freshness and organoleptic properties. Due to the strong influence of temperature and exposure to light (photo-induced oxidation processes) this effect especially appears in transparent packaged chilled products (like sausages). Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the oxygen content in the headspace of the package. One possibility is the use of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). But even at optimised processes the residual oxygen-concentration is up to 0.5 – 2%. To reduce this destructive oxygen, the additional use of oxygen scavengers becomes more and more attractive. Comparisons of the oxygen consumption of sausage and film showed that the use of the multilayer film PE/AL(SP2500; EVA) in combination with the food (exposed to light) resulted eight days earlier in a total consumption of the oxygen than storing the sausage without active film. This leads to a certain protection of the sausage.
