Role of Aseptic Packaging in the Food Industry

A safe and high-quality food with a higher shelf-life has been a focus for the food processing industry to meet the demands of the consumers.

- Narashans Alok Sagar*

INTRODUCTION

The thermal processing is one of the reliable techniques for the preservation of foods. Aseptic packaging is a preservation technique to pack a product under aseptic conditions (Götz and Wani, 2014). The word ‘aseptic’ has been derived from a Greek word ‘septicos’ which means the absence of putrefactive microbes. Commercially, a sterile product treated with Ultra-high temperature (UHT), needs a packaging, which can ensure its sterility to attain a higher shelf-life (Ansari and Datta, 2003). It is assumed that the aseptic packaging came into existence when an aseptic conservation process was filed for a patent in Denmark in 1931. The first commercial aseptic plant was established by Dole in 1940s which was engaged in filling at 210 ºC. The most significant development in this field was the viable packaging plant having Tetra Pak system and the UHT process for milk (Sanjana et al., 2019). Aseptic packaging is a well-established technique for the food sector. It is well-suited for fruits and vegetables slices, milk and milk products, paste, puree, soups, sauces and juices (Sagar and Pareek, 2020). It destroys the pathogenic microbes under a tightly regulated temperature to protect food items for a longer shelf-life.

Aseptic processing consists of following procedures:

• Product sterilization before filling

• Sterilization of containers and closures or packaging material before filling.