Packaging of Fresh and Processed Meat
Packaging of Fresh and Processed Meat
Packaging of Fresh and Processed Meat
The basic purpose : protect meat and its derivatives from undesirable impacts It protects during processing, storage and distribution from:
1.
4. contamination by toxic substances (chemicals) 5. influences affecting color, smell and taste (off-odour, light, oxygen)
Contains inner package (which is in direct contact with the product) In some cases outer package is also present (cardboard box, metal containers etc.) For inner packaging many types of synthetic films are available. Packaging films must be/have: Flexible Mechanical strength Light weight Odorless Hygienic (clean and toxicologically harmless) Easy recycling Resistance to hot and cold temperatures Resistance to oil and fats Good barrier properties against gases and light Sealing capability Low-cost
Fresh meat or fresh sausages, cooked ham have a relatively high moisture content suffer weight and quality losses by evaporation and drying during storage if unpacked packaging material must therefore be sufficiently water/vapor-proof
Prolonged light exposure causes off-color, rancidity/oxidation Transparent packaging films allow attractive product presentation as the packaged product is visible. Such films provide no protection against light impact. And those products are sufficiently protected when stored in the dark Colored or opaque packaging films can be used for light sensitive product. e.g. Films laminated with aluminium foil
Opaque and printed films as light barrier Aluminium foil bag
Thermoplastic properties are important as for sealing capability. Seal Making : Two of the films, put closely in contact to each other under slight pressure and with simultaneous high temperature application, will melt or seal together along the heated area. The packaging material must be sustainable to such temperature and pressure
Pressure Canner
A pressure canner has a dial gauge or weighed gauge. Pressure is created as water boils and is converted to steam in a closed vessel. Pressure : 10 psi Temperature: 115.5 degree Celsius
Packaging Methods
Meat can be packed either hot or raw. The hot pack method is recommended for most meats, as it consistently yeilds a safe, high quality product. The raw pack method is an option for only larger pieces of meat. To pack hot, prepare broth and cook meat to 66 degree celcius. Pack hot into clean, hot canning jars, and cover with boiling broth leaving proper headspace. To pack raw, place larger pieces of meat loosely into jars, leaving proper headspace. No liquid is added, since juices form during processing.
Containers for heat-preserved food must be hermetically sealed and airtight to avoid recontamination from environmental microflora. Most of the thermally preserved products are in metal containers (cans). Others are packed in glass jars or plastic or aluminum/plastic laminated pouches. Most metal containers are cans or tins produced from tinplate. They are usually cylindrical. However, other shapes such as rectangular or pear-shaped cans also exist.
Tinplate consists of steel plate which is electrolytically coated with tin on both sides. The steel body is usually 0.22 to 0.28mm in thickness. The tin layer is very thin (from 0.38 to 3.08 m). In addition, the interior of the cans is lined with asynthetic compound to prevent any chemical reaction of the tinplate with the enclosed food.
Tin cans consist of two or three elements. In the case of three-piece steel cans, they are composed of the body and two ends (bottom and lid). The body is made of a thin steel strip, the smaller ends of which are soldered together to a cylindrical shape. Modern cans are induction-soldered and the soldering area is covered inside with a side-strip coating for protection and coverage of the seam. The use of lead soldered food cans was stopped decades ago. Hence the risk of poisonous lead entering canned food no longer exists.
Two-piece steel cans have a lid similar to the three-piece cans but the bottom and body consist of one piece, which is moulded from a circular flat piece of metal into a cup. These cup-shaped parts may be shallow-drawn (with short side wall) or deepdrawn (with longer side walls) (Fig. 369, 371). However, the length of the side walls is limited through the low moulding ability of steel (example: tuna tins 42/85mm, i.e. side wall: diameter =1:2) Aluminium is frequently used for smaller and easy-to-open cans,. Aluminium cans are usually deep-drawn two-piece cans, i.e. the body and the bottom end are formed out of one piece and only the top end is seamed on after the filling operation. The advantages of aluminium cans compared to tin cans are their better deepdrawing capability, low weight, resistance to corrosion, good thermal conductivity and easy recycability. They are less rigid but more expensive than steel plate cans.
Polyethylene (PE) Polypropylene (PP) Polyvinylchloride (PVC) (soft) Polyester (PET) Polyamide (PA)
(oxygen + , water vapour -) (oxygen + , water vapour -) (oxygen + , water vapour -) (oxygen , water vapour -) (oxygen - , water vapour +)
For the various purposes in the meat industry packaging films can be divided into Single-layer films or Multi-layer films Single-layer films One common use of single-layer films (Fig. 338, 339) is the wrapping of meat pieces, processed meat products, bone-in or boneless meat cuts or even entire carcasses. These films are usually self-adhesive, i.e. they cling together - cling film - in the overlapping areas. Hence they provide good protection from external contamination and to some extend from evaporation, but no protection from oxygen, as they are not hermetically closed or sealed packages. Foils with good self-adhesive properties are PE, PA, PVC and PP.
Multi-layer films Practically all the other films used for meat packaging are designed as strong oxygen and water-vapour barriers. In order to fully achieve these requirements, films with good barrier properties for oxygen and water vapour respectively are combined.
Layer A: Outside layer (mechanically strong, gas barrier to oxygen) Layer B: Middle layer (barrier to oxygen) Layer C: Inside layer = sealant layer (capable of being melted and welded under pressure to the sealant layer of the opposite sheet of the bag/pouch, serves also as barrier to water vapour)
ausage slices placed in vacuum bag prior to aling Vacuum bags, used for vacuum packaging machines (Fig. 343, 344, 350) are composed of two or more sheets of multi-layer films. By drawing the vacuum and sealing of such bags, the air is excluded from the package and the damaging effects of oxygen such as rancidity Vacuum packed beef cuts / or discoloration of the packed products will be tenderloin, roast beef, rump, significantly slowed down or not develop at all. However, exposure to strong light may cause discoloration even under vacuum.
seam: risk of air penetrating inside the package because of film overlapping
A packaging method commonly used in larger meat industries is skin packaging. For this method the products are placed in the packaging machine, usually on a rigid film, which serves as the bottom layer of the final package. Another flexible film (top layer, which is heated for increased flexibility) The latest development in this sector is the drapes itself from above around theform-shrink packaging technology. product, resembling a tight skin on the product Products e.g. meat cuts, chicken carcasses, surface avoiding wrinkles and purges. The entire sausages, smaller portions of meat skin-like coverage of the product takes placeare placed between two shrinkable products, in a sealing station in the packaging machine, are moulded without wrinkles films, which where the top and bottom film are around the goods. Sealing seams can be kept sealed around the edges. Individual packages are small. This technology is very costextremely separated by cutting around the bottom seal terms of usage of packaging films effective in perimeter (Fig. 353, 354). but requires high-tech equipment and is only of relevance for large-scale industries.