Evaluation of two packaging systems for regional cheese

• Author(s): Pantaleão, I. ; Pintado, M. M. E. ; Poças, M. F. F.
• Date: 2007
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/2830
• Origin: Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa
• Subject(s): Active packaging; Perforated films; Humidipak; Shelf-life; Cheese
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

Saloio cheese – a regional Portuguese cheese – is currently sold unpackaged or in a vacuum package. Neither of these packaging systems is acceptable: the first system yields a cheese too hard, because of excessive water loss, while the second yields a white cheese with poor textural properties. The use of a packaging system with a tailor-made moisture barrier, i.e., allowing for water loss, but at a lower rate, is a way of extending the cheese’s shelf-life. The adequate water vapour permeability to preserve the cheese was previously determined as 6.8 · 107 g m/m2day Pa at 8 C. The objective of this work was to develop a packaging system providing the required relative humidity inside the package. Two systems were tested: (i) the active system Humidipak and (ii) perforated plastic films. Both packaging systems succeeded in extending the cheese’s shelf-life by significantly decreasing the water loss. Perforated films require further study on moulds growth control.