Biodegradable packaging impact on shelf life of pasteurised egg white

Abstract

The growing requirements for increased fresh food shelf life, as well as the need of protection against foodborne diseases urged the development of quality food packaging. Current and future advances in shelf life estimation have the potential to improve the safety, reliability, and sustainability of the food supply. Selection of desired kind of packaging will help predict shelf life of products. The newly designed active and intelligent packaging is a packing technology, which allows for such product safety and quality demands to be achieved. The aim of this work was to analyse the differences between two types of packaging, the effect of packaging on shelf life of pasteurized egg white. Pasteurized egg white has a shelf life of up to forty days, which makes it difficult to increase the exportation of this product. The technological process allows the finished product to be packaged using a polymer can (HDPE), which does not make it possible to obtain stable fulfilment of the requirements or Tetra Rex® Bio-based packaging was used as an alternative. Tetra Rex® Bio-based is produced solely from a combination of plastics derived from sugarcane and paperboard. Samples of pasteurized egg white in an HDPE package showed a critical norm of Total bacteria max ≤ 1 × 105 (CFU·g-1) by the thirtieth day of the expiration date. However, the samples in the Tetra Pak® Bio-based package showed the criteria of Total bacteria max ≤ 1 × 105 (CFU·g-1) growth indicators on the forty-eighth day. The changes in qualities of samples during storage were characterized by measuring total bacterial count (CFU·g-1) at start of the shelf life, with the method: LVS ISO 4833-1:2014 and pH (pondus Hydrogenii), method: GOST 31469-2012. As a result of the tests, pasteurized liquid egg white samples sixty units of samples in HDPE package and sixty units in Tetra Rex® Bio-based package were analysed. The data that were obtained emphasize the importance of the packaging type, which could provide stable quality of ready to use products for duration of up to 60 days.