1003486540
FOOD PACKAGING (May 2020)
Miguel Angel Muñoz Rodríguez
Abstract -. Butifarra is a meat product, processed homogenized,
cooked and stuffed into edible casings. It is made from meat, added
to salt, fat and spices. With a spicy flavor that may or may not
contain healing salts, maintain its characteristic pale color and does
not contain dyes. (NTC 1325, 2008).
It is some food rich in nutrients such as fats and proteins which vary
according to the type and quantity of meat.
Key words: Permeation, migration, absorption, and diffusion,
physicochemical, packaging, nutrients, sausage, conservation.
I. INTRODUCTION
The development of this article is based on the analysis of the
physicochemical and nutritional properties of the sausage, as well as
on the requirements established for its conservation. On the other
hand, the minimum and maximum sanitary requirements demanded
by the product in the market.
The study assesses the status of packaging and packaging
technologies in developing countries, with the problem of global food
losses and the potential of agri-food systems such as background. The
objective is to determine solutions for packaging in developing
countries, within the limits of development levels and existing
conditions, trying to make better use of materials Packaging available
locally. All this in the framework of the role that developing
countries comply as the main suppliers to the world food system and,
consequently, as actors of seeking solutions for food losses
worldwide.
The large losses that occur from exploitation to the table are
attributed to manipulation, distribution, storage and poor purchasing
or consumption habits. Huge resources that could dedicate to other
more productive activities they are destined to produce and transport
goods that only they are going to be wasted. The losses that occur in
almost all stages of the food chain are they can reduce using proper
packaging. Packaging is a fundamental part of a process long-term
gradual development that aims to reduce losses, and for which it will
be necessary to use a combination of technologies and processes.
II. MATERIAL AND METHODS
A. Physicochemical and nutritional characteristics of the product
study carried out by (Diofanor Acevedo, 2014) to the sausage sold in
the street and supermarkets in the city of Cartagena, determined the
humidity, protein, gauze and starches of different types of butifarras.
It establishes that those that meet the requirements established by
1
NTC 1325 (2008) are butifarras sold in supermarkets. As shown in
the following Table:
Fig. 1. Available at: Diofanor, (2014),
https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-07642014000600005
Likewise, within the nutritional properties, sausage contains the 10
essential and non-essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are not
synthesized by the human body, so they must be ingested in food
products. Amino acids combine to form proteins. It also has
nutritional properties like fat, saturated fat, water, and salt.
(alimentos.org.es)
Fig. 2. Aminoacids from sausage, Available at:
https://alimentos.org.es/aminoacidos-butifarra
The influence of heat treatment on a meat product is accompanied
by a change in its physical and chemical characteristics. As a result of
the effect of temperature, the meat acquires a new typical and
aromatic taste, dense consistency and is usually better digested by the
body. (Kerry, J. 2012)
The heat treatment is carried out in containers with hot water at a
temperature of 75° - 50°C for 20 minutes. Once this process is
finished the product is taken out to cool down until it reaches an
average temperature of 25°C, then it is passed to the cold room, (T= 0
-4°C, H= 85 - 95%)
Moreover, the heat treatment to which the product is subjected
include: thermal denaturation of protein substances; boiling and
hydrothermal decomposition of collagen; change of extracting
substances and vitamins; change of structure in mechanical
properties, moisture retention capacity; formation of flavour and
aroma components; change of colour; loss of product components
into the environment; death of vegetative microbiota. (Kerry, J. 2012)
Among the physicochemical properties of butifarra are: elasticity,
hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness and chewability. (Diofanor
Acevedo, 2014) in his study analyzed the texture profile of butifarra,
determining that the butifarras sold in supermarkets present better
results.
 1003486540 2

relative humidity between 75 - 85%. Raw material types should not

be in contact as this can provide wet areas for microbial growth.

C. Check the sanitary requirements (maximum and minimum

Fig. 3. Available at: Diofanor, (2014),
https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-07642014000600005
B. packaging and conservation requirements
of the product
limits) of the product in current national and international
legislation.
Within the specific health requirements, the microbiological
requirements set out in (NTC 1325, 2008) must be met. These are
described below.

The product must be packed in food grade material that ensures its
preservation in the conditions required by the product (NTC 1325,
2008). That protect the food against external factors such as air,
water, odors, tastes and does not confer unpleasant characteristics.

The packaging must guarantee the safety of the product while

preserving its organoleptic properties.

Packaging:

Artificial casing: material made from food grade raw materials,

synthetic or natural or both, which may or may not be edible, used to
contain the food excluding free spaces (NTC 1325, 2008).

Natural casing: natural membrane of animals for slaughter used to

contain food with exclusion of free spaces, after adaptation to ensure Fig. 4. NTC 1325, 2008
its safety (NTC 1325, 2008).
The Ministry of Health also sets requirements for cooked processed
Taking into account each of the above-mentioned characteristics of products (sausages and non-sausages), which are the organoleptic
the product. For the packaging, intelligent containers can be used characteristics and the physicochemical characteristics that the
which transmit visual information on the state of the product, such as product must meet.
the labels attached to the containers that control the temperature and
time of conservation of the packaged product and prolong its life. It
also enhances the organoleptic properties of the product.
(naukas.com).

For the preservation of the product it is necessary to keep it in

temperatures between 0°C and 4°C. And its expiration date will have
a maximum limit of 15 days, in optimal conditions of handling and
refrigeration. For transport it is done in refrigerated vehicles that
allow maintaining a temperature in the products between 0 ° C and 4
° C.(minsalud.gov.co)

For the conservation of the product it is also important the quality

that the raw material must comply with as it is:

The color: the meat must have its characteristic red colour for cattle.
The fat must be of a firm consistency and yellow in color.

Odour: The meat must have the characteristic smell of fresh meat.

Temperature: The meat must have a temperature of 4°C inside to

ensure good hygiene and conservation conditions.

The pH: The acceptable pH of the meats at the beginning of the

process must be in a range of 5 - 6.2, since a lower pH indicates a
level of inedible acidity and if it is much higher it indicates a state of Fig. 5. minsalud.gov.co. Available at:
putrefaction. https://www.minsalud.gov.co/sites/rid/Lists/BibliotecaDigital/RIDE/
DE/DIJ/resolucion-0242-de-2013.pdf
Storage of raw material is one of the critical stages during production
as it ensures food safety, shelf life and final appearance. Storage in
refrigeration chambers should have a temperature of 0° - 4°C and a
 1003486540
Why the material selected could be suitable for packaging the chosen
food?
Butifarra is a cooked meat product that must meet certain
composition, formulation and microbiological requirements
demanded by NTC 1325 2008 to be a premium or standard product.
On the other hand, the intelligent packages are a system that monitors
the conditions of the packaged product being able to register and
provide information regarding the condition of the package and
product. They control food safety and quality.
They also monitor the mechanisms of food alteration caused by
physiological, chemical and biological processes, which respond to
and communicate changes in the product such as temperature,
oxygen, carbon dioxide, microbial growth and pH changes.
(Rodríguez Sauceda & others, 2014)
Taking into account the above definitions, it is appropriate to make
use of these containers for the packaging of the food (butifarra) in
order to maintain a better quality and shelf life of the product.
What are the main deteriorative reactions/process of the selected
food?
- Heating temperature (heat treatment): 75° - 50°C
- Storage temperature: 0°C - 4°C
- Relative humidity: 75 - 85%
- Storage time: Should not be more than 15 days
- pH: Must be in the range 5 - 6.2, as a higher pH indicates a rotting
state.
What properties of the material lets preserve the selected food?
- Pathogen Indicators: Provides information on the
microbiological status of the food. (Rodríguez Sauceda &
others, 2014)
- Time and temperature indicators: Reports temperature
variations. (Rodríguez Sauceda & others, 2014)
D. Why the material selected could be suitable for packaging the
chosen food
An authentic technological revolution is intelligent packaging since
for the industry, packaging and packaging control temperature,
smart labels, antibacterial agents, nanosensors that allow the
detection of germs, nanochips, and security holograms.
These new packaging offer a wide range of possibilities, and they
have been considered the next generation in the “packaging” area.
But what are we specifically talking about? To understand their
operation and the advantages they can offer compared to traditional
packaging, it is essential to first clarify the meaning of these
concepts and distinguish between them.
Traditional containers perform the basic function of food
containers, and protect them from the outside environment, thus
preventing their deterioration due to the action of different
environmental factors such as light, humidity, gases,
microorganisms, dust, dirt and other contaminants. In addition, they
contain important information about the food product, and indicate
its form of preparation and its nutritional composition.
Active packaging can be considered as "packaging in which
secondary components (agents or active elements) have been
deliberately included to improve the preservation conditions of the
food and extend its shelf life". The packaging actively participates
in the preservation of the product and in maintaining or enhancing
3
its organoleptic properties, either absorbing compounds that
deteriorate the product or emitting substances that help preserve it.
E. What are the main deteriorative reactions/process of the
selected food
Factors that affect the microbiological deterioration of meat
products
The proliferation of microorganisms is determined by factors
intrinsic and extrinsic as well as by the processing methods and
preservation. Intrinsic factors refer to physical, chemical and
structural properties of meat. Among them, the most Important are:
water activity, pH, available nutrients, substances natural
antimicrobials, composition, type and degree of initial microbial
contamination. The facts extrinsic are those related to the
environment in which the meat and the most relevant are the
temperature and packaging atmosphere.
Microorganisms: Bacteria found in meat mainly originate from the
contact of the carcass with the animal's leather, with the fecal
matter or come from water. The initial microbial load of fresh meat
is directly related to good production practices during the slaughter
process, particularly during tanning, gutting and further processing
of the primary cuts.
Meat pH: The growth of important bacteria associated with the
deterioration of the meat can be partially or totally inhibited when
the pH values of the They are close to 5.5. Undissolved acid and
low pH can affect the growth potential of certain bacteria. The
importance of meat pH in the development of anaerobic bacteria is
well documented, since in meat surfaces with high pH, species
with a high potential for deterioration, can grow and cause
accelerated deterioration under packaging conditions at empty.
However, the effect of meat pH on aerobic bacteria associated with
its deterioration is not very clear.
Temperature: Temperature is probably the most important
environmental factor that influences bacterial growth in meat. The
effect general of low temperatures is to decrease the growth rate of
all bacteria that spoil meat, apart from inhibitory effects specific on
Pseudomonas spp. The optimal storage temperature for refrigerated
meat it is -1.5 ± 0.5 ° C.
Availability of oxygen (O2): When atmospheric O2 pressures exist,
the shelf life of the meat is limited by two important factors: the
chemical effect of O2 and growth of aerobic spoilage
microorganisms (Lambert et al., 1991). The kind of packaging is
one of the factors that affects the composition of the microflora that
spoils the meat. Vacuum packaging represents a special case of
atmosphere modified oxygen poor since the volume of the
atmosphere of the container is close to zero.
Meat color the appearance of meat: it is the most important sensory
property that influences the purchase decision of consumers.
Discoloration of the meat is not associated with a fresh product and
is rejected by consumers. Therefore, stability in the color of meat is
an issue. relevant to the meat industry.
F. What properties of the material lets preserve the selected food
Films used to wrap meats prevent new bacteria from reaching the
meat and influence the growth of those that were already present
before being wrapped. These films they differ considerably in
terms of their permeability to water, oxygen and carbon dioxide. I
know has noted that meats have a shorter shelf life if less film
wrapped water permeable. Fresh meats retain their color better if
 1003486540
wrapped using a film impervious to oxygen without using a
vacuum, except for cured meats, as their color it is not affected by a
lack of oxygen. Also, the vacuum contributes to decrease the
multiplication of aerobic microorganisms especially that of molds,
reduces the growth rate of Staphylococcus and does not
(apparently) promote the growth of C. Botulinum.
In foods that contain salt as a preservative, the salt has been
ionized, collecting molecules of water around each ion. This
process is called ionic hydration; the higher the salt concentration,
more water used to hydrate ions. A saturated solution at a given
temperature is one that It has reached a point where no additional
energy is available to dissolve the salt. In this point (25.5% NaC1
solution at room temperature) Bacteria, yeasts and molds are
incapable to grow. Because there is no free water available for
microbial growth at this point, This inhibition of microbial growth
is the result of the following factors:
 The increase in osmotic pressure of the medium or food,
which causes plasmolysis of thecells. The amount of salt
necessary to inhibit growth or destroy microorganisms
varies for different germs.
 The decrease in Aw will cause dehydration of food by
extracting and fixing its moisture and similarly dehydrates
microbial cells. Al Salt, when ionized, releases chlorine
ions, toxic to germs.
 Reduces the solubility of oxygen in water.
 Sensitizes microorganisms to the action of carbon dioxide.
 Interferes with the action of protolytic enzymes.
The effectiveness of sodium chloride varies directly with its
concentration and with temperature. For effective conservation, the
moisture content of the final product should be 50 to 55% and the
salt content of 9 to 10%, that is, the salt approaches saturation in
the aqueous phase. As the NaCl concentration in the aqueous phase
of a cured meat is less than 5.5% the selective action of salt in the
preservation of these products is very low.
G. Permeation
The development of new packaging and packaging technologies for
food is a constant due to the increasing demands of consumers for
minimally processed and natural, easy to consume and semi-finished
products that guarantee ever longer food preservation times. This
consumer demand is also shared by food companies, since by
extending the useful life of their products, it is possible to carry out
their distribution in more remote areas and, therefore, increase their
market.
There are different technologies that allow lengthening the shelf life
of food, such as packaging in modified atmosphere (EAM) and other
newer techniques such as the use of active packaging, which in
addition to protecting and containing food, provide other benefits that
contribute to its conservation. However, for the application of these
techniques, we must not lose sight of a critical property in the
preservation of packaged foods, which is the permeability of plastic
containers.
One of the most widely used strategies is the combination of two or
more materials in the same container. The use of multilayer
structures, either obtained by coextrusion of different plastic
materials, or by laminating a plastic film with other substrates such as
paper or aluminum, can give the container better properties that are
barriers to oxygen, humidity or other gases, which are require for
each type of food.
4
There are also other technologies that incorporate the use of high
barrier coatings, such as aluminum, aluminum oxides (AlOx) or
silicon (SiOx), in layers with very low thicknesses, providing a
considerable improvement regarding the permeability values of the
material without covering.
Other trends at present propose the use of nano-loads (nanometric-
size fillers), well incorporated into the polymer material during the
extrusion / injection process, well applied as a coating on the
substrates. All these strategies propose a passive protection of the
container, in which the objective is to hinder the passage of gas
molecules through the container. It is also possible to incorporate an
active protection, so that not only the passage of gas molecules is
hindered, but, once the entry of gas molecules into the structure by
diffusion has occurred, it is possible that these molecules remain
absorbed in the polymer structure, without spreading into the
container. This active packaging effect is achieved by incorporating
scavenger-type additives (also called sequestrants or absorbers) in the
material processing stage. Therefore, they provide additional
protection to that of the packaging alone, so that the shelf life of the
products is increased.
The other important observations made at this time were:
Permeation was independent of pressure, the increase in temperature
caused a decrease in penetrating solubility, but made the membrane
more permeable, prolonged exposure to high temperature affected the
retention capacity of the membrane, differences in permeability could
be exploited for application in gas separations and the variation in
membrane thickness altered the permeation rate, but not the
separation characteristics of the polymer. (Eric Charles, Suloff',
2002).
H. Migration
Food packaging can be a source of chemical contaminants in food.
The transfer of chemical contaminants from materials that are in
contact with food is called migration. Food contact materials are
considered by some scientists to be an underestimated source of
chemical contamination of food.
The chemical shift from packaging to food is known as migration.
Migration is relevant for smaller compounds (below 1000 Da). The
magnitude with which migration occurs depends on several factors:
the physico-chemical properties of the migrant substance, the
packaging material, and the food (eg fat content) temperature storage
time the size of the container in proportion to the volume of the food
product (a package of smaller size has a larger surface in relation to
its volume)
The types of chemicals that can migrate from packaging to food are
very diverse and depend on the type of packaging material. For inert
materials (stainless steel, ceramic, glass), only the chemicals on the
inner surface, directly in contact with food, can migrate. They are
transferred from the inner surface to the food by surface exchange.
Chemical diffusion from the inside of the packaging material or from
the outside (printing inks, adhesives) is not possible. This inactivity is
due to the chemical structure, with small pores that prevent individual
molecules or atoms from passing through them. However, fatty foods
packaged in glass can be contaminated by the migration of
plasticizers (such as epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) or phthalates)
from the closure system. Migration can be reduced by careful
manufacturing or by using specially developed low migration
closures.
The general processes of mass transfer are divided into two basic
classes: when diffusion can or cannot be modelled by Fick's law of
diffusion. The first Fick's law relates the diffusion coefficient and
concentration gradient between the two phases as follows:
 1003486540 5

J. Diffusion

Where:
Mixing is the process in which various ingredients are brought into
J = Migrant flow (moles/c .s). contact, so that at the end of the operation a homogeneous system is
C = Migrant concentration (moles/ c ). obtained on a certain scale. Depending on the scale of the mix and
X = Dimension of the coordinate in whose direction the transport the relative miscibility of the substances in the presence, the result
occurs (cm) may be a solution, microscopic dispersion
D = Mass diffusion coefficient ( ). K. Packing
In this case D, it is a function of the concentration of the migrant.
(Gerson Cabrejos, 2019).

Factors Influencing migration

Factors that interfere with the migration potential of food packaging

components are the physical and chemical properties of the
packaging material, the concentration of the migrant in the material,
the contact time, the temperature and the physicochemical properties
of the packaging/migrant/food system. The concentration of the
migrant is important, once, under certain limits, it becomes the
control of the diffusion coefficient of the system. In addition, the
thickness of the material is a relevant factor, as it is related both to
the diffusion coefficient and to the total mass of the available
migrant. The evaluation of migration in thick-walled containers CONCLUSIONS
offers greater analytical difficulty, when simulants are used in contact
for a short time. (Gerson Cabrejos, 2019). The packaging industry in developing countries is a market valued
at 15.4 billion USD (see Table 1). This represents around 27% of
Types of migration the packaging materials that have been exported worldwide in the
last five years (2005–2009) and includes glass, paper, plastic and
Total migration: Is the overall amount of components-migrants- wood. From the point of view of value, the import of plastic
packaging material that are transferred to the food, identified or not. materials ranks first (USD 9.5 billion), followed by paper (USD 4
billion), glass (USD 1.6 billion) and, lastly, wood packaging
Specific migration: It is the amount of a specific and identifiable materials at a comparatively low level (USD 300 million).
substance that is transferred to the food and presents a particular
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INTELIGENTES PARA LA CONSERVACIÓN DE
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 1003486540 6

ISSN: 1665-0441. Available at:

https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=461/46132135012

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