• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2024

The addition of oxygen scavengers to food products helps to reduce oxygen exposure, thereby mitigating deterioration, including changes in taste, odor, and color, as well as inhibiting microbial growth. Despite the advantages of the existing non-metallic oxygen removal materials in terms of safety for the human body and suitability for use in microwave ovens, their utilization has been limited due to their slow reaction initiation speed. Therefore, in the current study, sodium metabisulfite was impregnated into various porous media, including halloysite nanoclay, activated carbon, montmorillonite, and silica gel. The oxygen scavenger, produced by impregnating silica gel with sodium metabisulfite, demonstrated a 425% improvement in the initial oxygen removal rate compared to pure sodium metabisulfite. Additionally, sachets containing an oxygen-removing composition with an enhanced oxygen removal rate effectively decreased the oxygen concentration to less than 0.5% on the third day of storage in apple packaging, without elevating carbon dioxide levels. Moreover, it proved effective in preventing the browning of the apple surface. Therefore, the SM/SG oxygen-removal composition can be effectively applied to active food packaging by controlling the oxygen concentration within the packaging.