Package Designing for Thermally Processed Foods and Beverages: A Review

There has been many innovative preservation methods that have been recently introduced in food technology including high pressure processing, irradiation, ozoning, etc. However, still the most extensively used method for food preservation is the conventional thermal processing of foods i. e. use of high temperatures for processing or preservation (by heat destruction of spoilage microorganisms, ex wild yeasts, Acetobacter acetii, etc and pathogenic microorganisms ex Clostridium botulinum, Coxiella bernetii, etc and spoilage enzymes ex poly phenol oxidases, peroxidases, etc) of foods and beverages which includes pasteurization, appertisation (or canning), baking, microwaving among many others. Packaging mainly provides protection and preservation to the food material and also does the function of promoting the food product by displaying information about it for customer/ consumer reference. Therefore it becomes essential to focus on the designing, properties, availability, safety etc of packaging material to be used for thermally processed foods and beverages. The review focuses on the basic types, requirements, and properties of thermally processed foods, the outline of the processing operations involved and mainly on the types, materials used, properties, designing, handling, costing, suitability, safety usage, and recent developments in the packaging of thermally processed foods and beverages.