Carole Guillaume

Mechanistic model coupling gas exchange dynamics and Listeria monocytogenes growth in modified atmosphere packaging of non respiring food.

A mechanistic model coupling O2 and CO2 mass transfer (namely diffusion and solubilisation in the food itself and permeation through the packaging material) to microbial growth models was developed aiming at predicting the shelf life of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) systems. It was experimentally validated on a non-respiring food by investigating concomitantly the O2/CO2 partial pressure in packaging headspace and the growth of Listeria monocytogenes (average microbial count) within the food sample. A sensitivity analysis has revealed that the reliability of the prediction by this super-parametrized model (no less than 47 parameters were required for running one simulation) was strongly dependent on the accuracy of the microbial input parameters. Once validated, this model was used to decipher the role of O2/CO2 mass transfer on microbial growth and as a MAP design tool: an example of MAP dimensioning was provided in this paper as a proof of concept.

A novel hybrid self-assembly process for synthesising stratified polyethylene–organoclay films

This study reports the first effort to synthesize a new type of PE–organoclay multilayer film by starting from an uncharged apolar polymer substrate and successively depositing apolar organoclay and uncharged apolar polyethylene (PE) layers with subsequent repeating depositions. The alternate variation of contact angle (85° average for organoclay and 107° for PE layers) confirmed the profilometry and the scanning electron microscopy results as well as the linear growth pattern, i.e. the successful highly stratified assembly of repetitive bilayers comprised of 450 nm organoclays and 2.25 μm PE layers. The self-assembly of organoclays on PE surfaces was driven by solvophobic molecular construction involving hydrophobic interactions between the organic parts of the organoclay tactoids dispersed in an organic solvent and the PE hydrophobic surface. The deposition of PE molecules on the organoclay layers was the result of a dip-coating process involving physical sorption of a highly viscous PE solution on the surface of the organoclay layers.

CO2 and O2 solubility and diffusivity data in food products stored in data warehouse structured by ontology.

This data article contains values of oxygen and carbon dioxide solubility and diffusivity measured in various model and real food products. These data are stored in a public repository structured by ontology. These data can be retrieved through the @Web tool, a user-friendly interface to capitalise and query data. The @Web tool is accessible online at http://pfl.grignon.inra.fr/atWeb/.

Wheat gluten (WG)-based materials for food packaging

Abstract: This chapter discusses the use of wheat gluten (WG) based materials for food packaging. It presents the two technological processes to prepare WG-based materials and reviews the ways to modulate mechanical and mass transfer properties, with a specific section devoted to WG-based nanocomposites. The chapter also includes a case study of using WG-based materials (paper coated by wheat gluten) as modified atmosphere packaging for fruits and vegetables.