Modelling the synergistic effect of oxygen and relative humidity on chemical processes in food products and its application in predicting optimal gas and water permeability of packaging materials

The combined impact of oxygen and moisture influences to a large extent the stability of dry products such as biscuits, coffee, milk powder, etc. Their shelf life is therefore determined by the barrier properties of the used packaging materials. In industry, packaging materials are typically selected on basis of general guidelines (e.g. max. 1% oxygen) without being scientifically substantiated. Consequently, the optimal packaging configuration in terms of oxygen and moisture permeability is not known. This leads to either under or over packaging, which does not fit in the concept of the circular economy.

Therefore this research project aims to gain insights into the combined effect of oxygen and relative humidity on the chemical and physical degradation phenomena in dry foods via a modelling approach. Unique research infrastructure will be used for this purpose, enabling to monitor these phenomena in the selected products as function of specific and constant oxygen concentrations and relative humidities. The generated data will be used to model the degradation phenomena as function of these variables. These models allow to define the optimal gas and water permeability characteristics of packaging materials as function of the storage conditions and the desired shelf life of the selected food products.