A state-of-the –art manufacturing station for making chocolates can be a good example of utilization of advanced technology for packaging. Even the process of mixing desired quantity of ingredients, heating them up for making paste, molding in desired shapes, freezing for retention of shape and size and then packaging independently and in the forms of bunches for wholesale supply is carried out with sophisticated machinery and the packaging is loaded in a container for transportation to warehouses and dealers automatically as well.

We can find rising use of Modified Atmosphere Packaging and related technologies for extended shelf-life of a fresh product. These MAP packaging machineries are extensively used for packaging meat, fish, poultry and other related products. These machines can be designed for single package, multiple bags, barrels, bulk bins, top loaded boxes and many more forms of packaging.

Usually the shelf life of products such as meat, poultry, fish and bakery products is limited due to exposure to oxygen and growth of aerobic spoilage microorganisms. These factors make deterioration of these products in terms of odor, loss of texture, flavor and color. Chilled storage can help in increasing shelf life up to a minor extend, however for retail storage and display, this may not help.

Modified Atmosphere Packaging is performed by modifying the surrounding food product’s atmosphere by controlled permeability or gas flushing. This controls biochemical, enzymatic and microbial actions resulting in deterioration of these food products. The similar technique is used for Controlled Vacuum Packaging. In CVP Packaging Systems, vacuum is created by extraction of air in the packaging around the food products and thus the product will be infection free until the package is broken or opened for using the food product for preparation.

MAP is the process of replacing gas in the packaging of a product by a single gas or a combination of gases. The proportion of each component is as per desired standard and is fixed when the mixture of gases is forced into the packaging. Normal composition of air is 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and less than 0.1% of carbon dioxide. However during MAP, percentage of oxygen is reduced drastically with higher percentage of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. There is no further control provided on the amount of gases, and the composition may change in course of time due to diffusion of gases in to and from the product. This method increases shelf life of the product in the packaging as reduced percentage of oxygen creates barriers for development of bacteria inside the packaging.

For more info:- CVP Packaging Systems