Optimization of Operating Conditions for Sterilization of Aseptic Food Packaging Material

Sterilization of the packing material is essential in order to prevent spoilage caused by microorganisms found on the packing material. Hydrogen peroxide was used for sterilization of packaging material. Bacteriological effectiveness of sterilization of packaging material was tested with Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 as target organism as it is the most resistance to hydrogen peroxide. The initial count of spore taken for experimental purpose was 10⁸ cfu/ml. In this study, the operating factors were hydrogen peroxide concentration (1.6–18.4% v/v), temperature (26.4–93.6°C) and treatment time (9.6–110.4 s) while the investigated response was log cycle reduction. The experimental data was fitted with second order regression equation. The operating conditions were optimized using response surface methodology. The optimum values of hydrogen peroxide concentration, temperature and treatment time were found to be 8.05% v/v, 77.20°C and 80.54 s respectively at desirability value of 0.39. The log cycle reduction was found to be 6.10 under optimized condition. The optimized condition may be employed for sterilization of food packaging material in aseptic packaging.

Sterilization of packaging material is essential for aseptic packaging.

Hydrogen peroxide is used for sterilization of packaging material.

The operating conditions of sterilization of packaging materials i.e. hydrogen peroxide concentration, temperature and treatment time is found using response surface methodology.