From
surf to served
Seafood
packaging and presentation requires to be both appealing and practical
in order to serve its primary aim of enhancing food security, says VK
Dey
Over
the last few decades, the seafood sector has undergone a massive change.
As a result of considerable interest in its nutritional benefits, seafood
today is perceived as a health food. Technological developments over
the past decade have contributed to the modernisation and growth of
the seafood sector with state-of-the-art processing and packaging facilities
and more efficient storage and distribution systems. A variety of seafood
items in attractive packaging is a common sight today in the refrigerated
shelves of the seafood counters in supermarkets. Earlier, in most of
the retail outlets especially in supermarkets and hypermarkets, wet
fish were traditionally displayed on ice for sale. This has now been
replaced with refrigerated cabinets to help display unit-packs of wet
fish. This transformation has also been noticed in the seafood packaging
sector as it has started launching more and more attractive packages
and has grown into a thriving multi-billion dollar industry.
Role
of packaging
Development
of modern and efficient packaging has become necessary due to intense
competition in the market. The seafood packaging industry the world
over is adopting innovative packaging styles to cater to the ever-growing
needs of the consumers.
The
needs of today’s consumers is well taken care of by the innovations
in the packaging industry, which has developed packaging materials to
suit various types of seafood processing such as chilling, freezing,
boiling or even microwave cooking. The packages have been developed
keeping in mind the physical and chemical properties of the food and
its storage, distribution and acceptance among the
end-users.
Seafood
processors now have a variety of options in terms of packaging for their
products. Plastic wrap with paper boxes is no longer seen in the shelves
of supermarkets; it has been replaced by attractively designed paper
boxes accompanied by multi-layered plastic pouches and windowed tray
packs. Although a wide range of packages are available today for packaging
seafood products, the selection of packaging and pack style will depend
upon availability, method of operation, protection and shelf life of
the product, suitability for transportation and finally, the display
features.
The
secondary benefit of packaging is the maintenance of hygiene and spoilage
reduction. In this respect, vacuum packaging and gas packaging assumes
significance in maintaining the quality.
The
success of marketing seafood products depends upon the extension of
shelf life, which can be provided by new and innovative packages. Choosing
appropriate packaging for convenience seafood is very important and
difficult as well. It is difficult to find optimum packaging for mixed
seafood items such as seafood accompanied with vegetables, curried seafood
and seafood-based ready meals as each has its own requirements. When
selecting packaging, it is important to know the storage conditions
of the product in respect to temperature, relative humidity and expected
shelf life.
Materials
used in packaging
The
packaging material in direct contact with seafood should have adequate
barrier properties to protect the product from oxidation, dehydration,
discolouration and off-flavour. The basic packaging material used in
the seafood industry is paper, board and rigid and semi-rigid containers
made from metal, glass or plastics. The plastic packaging materials
could be polymers or co-polymers of plastics, which provide strength,
resistance, barrier properties and light permeability. They are in the
form of trays and form-fill plastic packs made from polystyrene and
polyvinyl chloride, plastic films of polyethylene or co-polymers (polyvinylidene
chloride, ethyl vinyl alcohol), laminated packs of polyester, polyethylene
or nylonpolyethylene, microwaveable polyester-based trays, shrinkable
polyethylene for shrink wrapping, stretchable films for stretch wrap-
ping and three-ply retortable pouches, polyester or polyvinylidene chloride
packs.
Common
types of packaging
Over-wrapped
trays: In supermarkets, fresh or chilled fish is displayed in trays
over-wrapped with plastic film with high permeability to oxygen. As
there is no hermetic seal, over-wrap results in aerobic conditions around
the fish.
Bags
and pouches: These are widely used for packing products like peeled
shrimp, squid rings, cuttlefish strips and seafood mix. Depending upon
the permeability to water vapour and gases, they are manufactured from
single plastic material or combinations and heat-sealed.
Vacuum
packaging: This is the most viable packaging method to get better refrigerated
shelf life of any cooked seafood products. The process should be undertaken
under strict hygienic and controlled conditions. This packaging technique
works out well with boneless and finless products. The air is drawn
out after the package has been filled with seafood after which the package
is heat-sealed. With a flexible package, the packaging material is to
be pulled against the food.
.....CONTD
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