DIFFUSIVITY AND SOLUBILITY OF

CO2 IN DENSE SOLID FOOF

PRODUCTS
ANDRES FELIPE VAHOS

INTRODUCTION
The replacement of air containing in the
food packaging headspace by a judiciously
chosen gas mixture aims at improving the
preservation of food products. In such
Modified Atmosphere
Packaging (MAP) systems, carbon dioxide
(CO2) is the most important ‘‘active’’ gas
used for its bacteriostatic properties.

METODOLOGY

3
fig 1. Scheme of the experimental set-up used to study CO2
diffusion with summary of the initial and boundary
conditions imposed to the sample.

RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION

CONCLUSIONS
The identified diffusivity values were discussed according to the food
composition/structure. DCO2 identified for butter, processed cheese and ham ,
were in the same order of magnitude than those reported in the literature.
A huge impact of water, fat and protein content on the CO2 diffusion was
highlighted by the present results even if no clear correlation could have been
determined. Increasing water and protein content lead to a decrease of DCO2
while increasing fat content tended to increase DCO2.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chaix, E., Guillaume, C., Gontard, N., Guillard, V.(2015) Diffusivity and
solubility of CO2 in dense solid food products