Objectives and competences

•  To understand the principles, the fundamentals and the importance of packaging systems in the supply chain of food
• To know the major packaging systems for foods and beverages in what concerns the materials, properties and their relationship with the foods quality, safety and shelf-life and performance along the supply chain
• To design evaluation schemes and to interpret laboratory results in order to select optimized packaging systems
• To have an overview of physical, mechanical and chemical properties of the materials
• To understand the impact of packaging on the safety of the food product and the role regarding food security
• To understand the principles of the legislation and the procedures needed for safety assurance and compliance demonstration
• To know and apply mathematical simulation techniques to estimate the product shelf life
• To understand the principles applicable to packaging in order answering to sustainability and circulability requirements

Teaching Methodologies

The course is structured in theoretical, exercises resolution and laboratory classes. In the theoretical classes the fundamental concepts of the different packaging materials and systems and their performance, are presented. In all topics of the syllabus, special topics are targeted in exercises involving further readings and analyses of information, handling legislation documents or calculation exercises. Shelf-life exercises to be solved through mathematics are provided. Laboratory practices are developed focusing the basic materials properties, such as identification, permeability and migration testing. The students are asked to prepare a mini project (report + oral presentation) regarding a packaging innovation, developed through bibliographic survey. 

Syllabus

Lectures
1. Introduction
2. Impact on the environment: sustainability, circulability, recycling and life cycle assessment 
3. Packaging: glass, metal, paper and board and plastic: Types, closure systems, Raw-materials and composition, Properties and uses
4. Packaging and Preservation technologies
5. Food contact materials: Chemical hazards Overall and specific migration Legislation and guidelines
6. Shelf-life: Degradation reactions, Factors affecting shelf-life, temperature, light,oxygen, aw, packaging, Protection requirements, Shelf life estimation, mathematical simulation
7. New materials: active and intelligent
8. Human factors and packaging

Tutorials, Supervised and Laboratories

Exercises on interaction between packaging and food, legislation application and shelf-life estimation. 
Physical characterisation of materials, permeability testing, migration determination and analyses of materials composition.