• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2007

A respiration rate analysed by enzyme kinetics-based respiration model and gas permeability data of LDPE film were applied to design the optical modified atmosphere (MA) packaging condition of persimmon (Diospyros kaki cv. Fuyu) fruits. The fruit quality rapidly decreases due to physiology disorder such as softening and peel blackening. $O_2$ permeance ($Q_{O2}$ in $ml{\cdot}hr^{-1}{\cdot}atm^{-1}{\cdot}m^{-2}$) and $CO_2$ performance ($Q_{CO2}$ in $ml{\cdot}hr^{-1}{\cdot}atm^{-1}{\cdot}m^{-2}$) of low density polyethylene (LDPE) film samples were measured at $0^{\circ}C$ and described as function of thickness (L in ${\mu}m$) as $Q_{O2}=(2540{\times}1/L)-16$, and $Q_{CO2}=(13742{\times}1/L)-70$, respectively. MA package containing single persimmon fruit of 225g was designed and tested experimentally at $0^{\circ}C$ by using LDPE films. Package atmospheres predicted from the relationship of $O_2$, $CO_2$ and $N_2$ balances on the packages was in good agreement with those obtained experimentally. Physiology disorder occurrence was the lowest at 52 ${\mu}m$ package that attained optimum gas condition ($O_2$ 2.8% and $CO_2$ 5.4%). The computer simulation was found to be effective to help to design the optimum MA packaging condition of individual persimmon fruit.