Modeling Fresh Produce Respiration and Designing Modified Atmosphere Package

The method to characterize the fresh produce respiration was presented with possible application of modified atmosphere package design. Particularly the respiration model based on enzyme kinetics was introduced as function of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations. The method to estimate the equilibrated package atmosphere for any package conditions was presented by incorporation of $O_2$ and $CO_2$ permeabilities of the packaging film. Temperature dependences for fresh produce respiration and gas permeation were given by Arrhenius equation and then used to analyze the effect of temperature on the package atmosphere. An example analysis was presented for better understanding of the concept.