Micro-Perforated Food Packaging for Shelf-Life and Steam Cooking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current packaging technologies for perishable food products fail to maintain optimal atmospheric conditions, leading to premature fermentation and reduced shelf-life, especially for products with breathability requirements, and do not allow for effective steam cooking within the package.
Innovation Solution
A packaging device with micro-perforations that alter the gaseous environment to create low oxygen and high carbon dioxide regimes, allowing for extended shelf-life and enabling steam cooking while maintaining the product's quality and nutrient retention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional packaging materials are used, then the package structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the atmospheric conditions inside the package cannot be optimized, leading to premature fermentation and reduced shelf-life
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging material incorporates micro-perforations throughout its structure, creating a porous configuration that enables controlled gas exchange. These micro-perforations allow oxygen to escape and carbon dioxide to enter the package, actively modifying the internal atmosphere to prevent fermentation and extend shelf-life of perishable food products without requiring complex external control systems
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameters of the packaging material by introducing micro-perforations with specific size ranges (micrometer scale). This parameter modification transforms the material from a conventional impermeable structure to one with controlled permeability, enabling atmospheric modification while maintaining manufacturing simplicity
2Ease of operation
If the package is sealed airtight, then the atmospheric conditions can be controlled for storage, but steam cooking becomes ineffective as steam cannot escape
Solution Approach 1:
The micro-perforated structure serves dual functions: during storage, the small perforation sizes maintain atmospheric control by allowing only gradual gas exchange, while during steam cooking, the same perforations enable steam escape when pressure and temperature increase, eliminating the need for separate venting mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging material dynamically adapts its permeability characteristics based on environmental conditions. Under storage conditions, the micro-perforations provide controlled atmosphere maintenance, but under cooking conditions (elevated temperature and pressure), the material allows enhanced gas and steam transmission, seamlessly transitioning between functional states
3Reliability
If micro-perforations are added to the packaging material, then shelf-life is extended through atmospheric modification, but the cooking properties of the material may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The micro-perforation parameters (size, density, distribution) are specifically optimized to maintain atmospheric control during storage while preserving cooking performance. The perforation dimensions are kept within micrometer ranges that provide sufficient atmospheric modification for shelf-life extension but remain small enough not to significantly compromise the material's structural integrity and cooking properties
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
The packaging device effectively prolongs the shelf-life of perishable food products by maintaining desired atmospheric conditions and allows for steam cooking without compromising the cooking properties, resulting in improved quality and convenience for consumers and food service industries.
Implementation Method 1
A packaging device with micro-perforations that alter the gaseous environment to create low oxygen and high carbon dioxide regimes
Implementation Method 2
enabling steam cooking while maintaining the product's quality and nutrient retention
Data Source
AI summary
A packaging device allowing for the distribution, storage and cooking of various food products, such as perishable or frozen food product(s). The packaging device includes a plurality of micro-perforations that may promote the extended shelf-life of the perishable food product and the maintenance of the quality of the perishable food product or be configured to maintain the integrity of a frozen food product. The packaging device also includes a venting system that allows the cooking of the perishable or frozen food products within the packaging device.