Food Packaging and Shelf Life
Kettle cooked potato chips packaged inside metallized oriented polypropylene bags were used to
evaluate the effects of simulated transportation on shelf life. While shelf life testing provides accurate
results for shelf dating, the research project assessed whether or not subjecting packaged products to
known transportation hazards can increase or accelerate the deteriorative factors that affect the shelf life
of a produce. By stressing the packages through laboratory simulated transportation hazards, it created
failures to the packages that would not have normally shown up during a traditional test protocol, such as
accelerated shelf life testing (ASLT). Results showed packages evaluated through a simulated transport
test reported an average oxygen transmission rate three times greater than samples having not been
transport tested. Outcomes from this study showed the rate at which some properties of the food and
package can increase as a result of the simulated transportation, versus standard ASLT with only
increased temperature and humidity. Differences of significance were observed between the simulated
transportation and the standard ASLT samples when comparing headspace composition, moisture
content, and TBA testing (P < 0.05).