Abstract
A simple method for determining gas permeability of polymeric films for MA packaging
of fresh produce was proposed. Head space gases in the film package were replaced with CO2 and changes in the concentrations of O2,Ｎ2 andＣＯ2 were periodically analyzed with a gas chromatograph. Quadratic equations were proved to be suitable to express the gas changes as a function of storage time in the package.
An initial volume of the package and the quadratic equation were combined with a model expressing the packaging volume at any given time to calculate gas transmission rates of the films. Using the values of gas transmission late thus obtained and the values obtained with a manometric device，in- package gas changes of broccoli were calculated by computer simulation.No significant differences between the curves of the changes were obtained，suggesting that the method developed can be applied to determine the gas permeability of polymeric films for MA packaging.
