Active Packaging for Fresh Meat

Packaged unprocessed meats are supplied in several forms, including fresh retail cuts, MAP cuts, and chilled vacuum-packed primals. These packages often exhibit ambient, increased, and decreased levels of oxygen, respectively. The MAP and vacuum-packaged cuts feature raised carbon dioxide levels. The major chemical route to quality loss involves the formation of brown metmyoglobin at oxygen levels that are approximately between 0.1% and 2.0%. Inclusion of oxygen-scavenging sachets that also have the capacity to release some carbon dioxide enables further enhancement of the 134 PLASTIC FILMS IN FOOD PACKAGING maintenance of ideal packaging conditions. Earlier forms of active packaging involved the inclusion of a bicarbonate and an organic acid in pads that absorb weep from cut meat. More recent oxygen scavenging has involved the addition of water to sachets to trigger more rapid oxygen scavenging because the metmyoglobin formation is rapid and irreversible in retail packs. Oxygen-scavenging plastics have the potential to contribute substantially to the removal of oxygen originating from occlusion and permeation of the film material. 

The quality of fresh meat is also limited by the growth of slime-forming bacteria, and recent research aimed at providing packaging films that release organic acids offers potential for reducing this effect. Films that release lactic acid are particularly attractive, as this acid is normally present in the meat and can be effective when applied at the cut surface.

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