Shelf Life of Fresh Sliced Sea Bream Pack in PET Nanocomposite Trays

Abstract

Spoilage of fish due to microbiological activity is one of the biggest problems found by producers to take fresh fish products to customers. It is necessary packaging improvements to be able to increase fish shelf life and, thus, be able to travel further and to keep product freshness longer at customer’s houses. In the present work, a new material is developed for fish packaging in modified atmosphere (MAP). This material is poly(ethylene terephathalate) (PET) extruded with a polyamide (PA) nanocomposite containing nanosepiolite. Here, it is shown the production procedure from laboratory to industrial scale. Permeability to oxygen and impact mechanical properties results are shown for different samples, both at laboratory and industrial processes. At the end, a material composition is chosen to produce the finale tray which will contain the sliced sea bream. Microbiological analysis is done over the packed fish, resulting is a lower microbiological count compared to a PET control sample. This means that shelf life of pack sea bream could increase from 2–4 to 7–9 days, which is very important for both producers and customers. On the other hand, trays obtained comply with European regulations in food contact materials (FCM) and, overall, they are suitable for food packaging materials.