Food Packaging and Shelf Life

Book excerpt: The importance of food packaging hardly needs emphasizing since only a handful of foods are sold in an unpackaged state. With an increasing focus on sustainability and cost-effectiveness, responsible companies no longer want to over-package their food products, yet many remain unsure just where reductions can effectively be made. Food Packaging and Shelf Life: A Practical Guide provides package developers with the information they need to specify just the right amount of protective packaging to maintain food quality and maximize shelf life. Current food packaging must take into consideration the biochemical, chemical, physical, and biological changes that occur during processing, distribution, and storage. Organized according to chapters devoted to specific food products, this practical handbook defines the indices of failure for foods as diverse as milk, fruits, bottled water, juices, vegetables, fish, and beef. It discusses the deteriorative reactions for each food and reviews how different packaging materials may influence time to failure and thus shelf life. Other topics included biobased packaging, packaging and the microbial shelf life of foods, and shelf life testing methodology.