An engineering design of a MAP system for sliced mushrooms
should always consider the amount of product, its recommended
gas composition and its respiration rate as affected by temperature
and headspace gas composition, the permeability of the packaging
materials (perforated or non-perforated polymeric film) and its
dependence on temperature. This work showed the importance
of an optimised MAP design, requiring the consideration of weight
of sliced mushrooms to be packed and number of perforations in
the film, in order to achieve the best headspace gas composition
in acceptable length, for maintaining quality and extending shelflife
of fresh sliced mushrooms. Addition of CO2 scavenger in the
package increased the deterioration of mushrooms, showing that
active packaging was not beneficial; therefore a less costly packaging
solution is recommended for achieving an optimum quality of
sliced mushrooms. The optimum packaging conditions obtained
were 110 g of sliced mushrooms and 2 perforations in the film,
leading to 3.6% of O2 and 11.5% of CO2 in the headspace gas composition,
after 3 days at 10 C.
Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledge financial support from the Erasmus
Program (2009) and research funding was provided under
the NDP, through FIRM (08/R&D-UL/661), administered by the
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ireland. Authors
would also like to acknowledge Innovia Films Ltd. (UK) for supplying
the packaging materials.