Packaging breakfast cereal

Keywords Methylnaphthalene 1-methylnaphthalene 2-methylnaphthalene Hydrocarbon Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon PAH Food packaging Food contact material Breakfast cereal packaging Waxes Pulmonary alveolar... 

Cereal Products. Breakfast cereals are susceptible to moisture absorption and require good water-vapor- and fat-barrier packagiag that retains dehcate flavors. Breakfast cereals are packaged in polyolefin coextmsion films in the form of pouches or bags within paperboard carton outer sheUs. 

Self-Test A.1B Express the mass in ounces of a 250.-g package of breakfast cereal. 

The ABC cereal company is developing a new type of breakfast cereal to compete with a rival product that they call Brand X. You are asked to compare the energy content of the two cereals to see if the new ABC product is lower in calories so you burn 1.00-g samples of the cereals in oxygen in a calorimeter with a heat capacity of 600. J-(°C). When the Brand X cereal sample burned, the temperature rose from 300.2 K to 309.0 K. When the ABC cereal sample burned, the temperature rose from 299.0 K to 307.5 K. (a) What is the heat output of each sample (b) One serving of each cereal is 30.0 g. How would you label the packages of the two cereals to indicate the fuel value per 30.0-g serving in joules in nutritional Calories (kilocalories) ... 

Plastic materials are the main components of food packages used for dairy products, baked goods, breads, beverages, breakfast cereals, confectionery, pasta, and other miscellaneous food products (Table 14.1). 

You shake your head. Haven t you ever wondered why breakfast cereals come in such big boxes and when you open brand-new boxes some of the cereal seems to have been removed Sure, the cereal manufacturers tell you that the packages are sold by weight, not volume, and that the cereal settles over time. But the manufacturers are merely hiding the fact that the 4-D guinea pigs have entered the cereal boxes without breaking the cardboard.. .. ... 

Recently, there has been an issue with the detection of 4-methylbenzophe-none (MBP) in breakfast cereal in Europe, leading to publicity concerning the presence of this photoinitiator in the food. Based on the close similarity between MBP and benzophenone, a photoinitiator for inks and coatings that are cured with UV light, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has concluded that short-term consumption of breakfast cereals containing ppm traces of MBP should not pose a risk to most people, but recommended that this substance undergo more detailed evaluation if it will continue to be used in food packaging. ... 

Fig. 18.1 Food/packaging configurations for transfer studies from secondary packaging to foods (Jickells et al., 2005) (a) chocolate-coated cream wafer bars single- and multi-pack format in corrugated board box (b) milk chocolate-coated wafer biscuits in cartonboard boxes (c) chocolate-coated ice-cream bars in cartonboard box (d) oatcake biscuits in cartonboard boxes (e) savoury crackers in cartonboard boxes (f) wheat biscuit breakfast cereal in cartonboard boxes (g) crisps (potato chips) in corrugated board box.

Paper was shown to be a poor barrier to transfer where there was a relatively narrow air gap between the secondary packaging and the food, i.e., wheat breakfast cereal in a paper wrapper inside a cartonboard box. A PP wrapper in the same situation reduced transfer by between three to 19-fold (three-fold for trichloroanisole and 2-ethylnaphthalene, 7-fold for diisopropyhiaphthalene and 19-fold for diisopropylnaphthalene at 200 days). 

For studies carried out investigating the nature of foodstuffs, MPPO was replaced by wheat biscuit breakfast cereal (representing a dry foodstuff with low fat content), savoury biscuits (dry foodstuff with high fat content), butter (fatty foodstuff) or orange juice (acidic foodstuff). PP film was used as the primary packaging material for the studies with foods. Conclusions from the studies were as follows ... 

The types of cereal food products included in this chapter are processed, packaged cereal products and certain bulk products available to consumers from retail sources, for example, granolas, ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, crackers, flours, pastas, bran, chips, snack bars, cookies, and some minimally processed, packaged whole grains (e.g., popcorn and rice). The processed products considered to be cereal foods are generally made up of wheat, maize (corn), oats, rice, rye, and millet however, cereal products also include buckwheat, amaranth, and quinoa, which are handled as cereals by the food industry. 

The Kellogg Company issued a voluntary recall of 28 million boxes of breakfast cereals that used methylnaphthalene in the secondary food packaging. 

Breakfast cereals are typically manufactured using direct expansion or by forming dense pellets. Direct-expanded products are usually flavored and packaged, whereas pellets are usually transformed into their final shape by flaking, oven puffing, or gun puffing. 

There are some breakfast cereals that arenothygroscopic and crispy, such as rolled or flaked oats. In this case, the packaging requirements are different. These products... 

Pringle, F.E., Monhahan, E.J., and Caldwell, E.F. 2000. Packaging of ready to eat breakfast cereals. Cereal Foods WoWrf 45(6) 255-260. 

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