Modified Atmosphere Packaging for Meat Color and Shelf Life
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Solution Overview
Problem
The meat packing industry faces challenges with the short shelf life of packaged meat due to undesirable exposure to oxygen, which causes oxidation and spoilage, while also affecting the appearance of cut or ground meat, as oxygen is necessary for maintaining the desired red color.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for packaging meat in a modified atmosphere with controlled gas composition, specifically reducing oxygen exposure and using packaging materials that are selectively permeable to gases, allowing for the creation of an internal environment with reduced oxygen levels, such as using a packaging machine with a gas dispensation device that directs gases like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide to surround the meat, and sealing the package in a modified atmosphere to prevent ambient oxygen access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If oxygen is removed from the packaging atmosphere to prevent oxidation and spoilage, then shelf life is extended, but the red color of meat deteriorates due to formation of deoxymyoglobin
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by precisely controlling the oxygen concentration in the packaging atmosphere. Instead of completely removing oxygen, the system maintains oxygen at specific low levels (e.g., 0.1-5% by volume) that are sufficient to preserve the red color through oxymyoglobin formation while being low enough to prevent spoilage and extend shelf life. This optimal parameter setting resolves the contradiction between preservation and appearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs an inert atmosphere approach by using modified atmosphere packaging with high concentrations of inert or non-reactive gases such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide. These gases displace oxygen to create an environment that is largely inert toward the meat, preventing oxidative spoilage while allowing controlled amounts of oxygen to remain for color preservation. The inert atmosphere thus protects against harmful oxidation while maintaining desirable visual properties.
2Ease of manufacture
If oxygen is present in the packaging atmosphere to maintain the red color of meat, then appearance is improved, but oxidation and spoilage occur more rapidly reducing shelf life
Solution Approach 1:
The system resolves this contradiction by changing the oxygen concentration parameter from high levels (ambient air at 21%) to optimized low levels (0.1-5%). This parameter adjustment maintains sufficient oxygen for oxymyoglobin formation and red color preservation, while simultaneously reducing oxygen availability to slow oxidative spoilage and extend shelf life. The precise parameter control achieves both appearance and preservation goals.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating different oxygen concentration zones or conditions within the packaging system. The atmosphere is engineered to have localized oxygen availability that is sufficient for color maintenance at the meat surface while maintaining overall low oxygen conditions throughout the package to prevent bulk oxidation. This spatial differentiation of oxygen quality resolves the apparent contradiction.
3Ease of manufacture
If a permeable film is used in the package to allow oxygen transmission, then the red meat color is maintained, but the shelf life becomes very short due to continuous oxygen exposure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the oxygen concentration parameter within the package from ambient levels to controlled low levels (0.1-5%). By maintaining this optimized oxygen level in the headspace atmosphere, the system allows permeable films to function effectively for color maintenance while the controlled atmosphere prevents excessive oxygen transmission that would cause rapid spoilage. The parameter control thus enables the use of permeable materials without sacrificing shelf life.
Solution Approach 2:
The modified atmosphere acts as an intermediary between the permeable film and the meat product. The controlled gas mixture in the package headspace mediates the oxygen transmission through the permeable film, allowing sufficient oxygen passage to maintain color while limiting overall oxygen availability to prevent rapid oxidation. This intermediary atmosphere thus reconciles the conflicting requirements of color maintenance and shelf life extension.
4Reliability
If a motherbag with low oxygen atmosphere is used during distribution to prolong shelf life, then oxidation is reduced, but the meat cannot bloom properly at points of sale due to inability to regain red color
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the oxygen concentration parameter to a specific range (0.1-5%) that balances two opposing requirements: low enough to prevent oxidation and extend shelf life during distribution, yet high enough to allow proper blooming and color development at retail. This precise parameter control enables both extended shelf life and effective bloom capability, resolving the contradiction faced with traditional motherbag systems that use excessively low oxygen levels.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach extends the shelf life of meat by minimizing oxidation, maintains the desired red color, and allows for efficient packaging processes, applicable to various food items beyond just meat.
Implementation Method 1
a packaging machine with a gas dispensation device that directs gases like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide to surround the meat
Implementation Method 2
using packaging materials that are selectively permeable to gases, allowing for the creation of an internal environment with reduced oxygen levels
Implementation Method 3
sealing the package in a modified atmosphere to prevent ambient oxygen access
Implementation Method 4
Myoglobin is largely responsible for determining meat color, both in the raw and cooked states. When meat is first cut, it has a deep, purplish red color due to the presence of deoxymyoglobin ('DMb'), which is myoglobin without bound oxygen. As the meat is exposed to the air, oxygen binds to the heme iron of the myoglobin, resulting in the formation of oxymyoglobin, which gives the meat a bright, cherry-red color.
Implementation Method 5
undesirable exposure of meat to oxygen, and other reactive gases, in the ambient atmosphere. Such ambient oxygen causes oxidation of protein and fat molecules in the meat, reducing the shelf-life of the meat
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for wrapping meat in containers is provided. The method and system provide a modified atmosphere, other than that which exists as standard air, to a container such that a final sealed product contains an internal volume or atmosphere of modified gas. In-line processing features dispense the desired modified gas such that minimal interruption is provided in an automated or partially automated packing operation.