JP2000086907A - Resin composition for keeping freshness - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain the subject composition, inexpensive, excellent in stability during processings without needing specific processors and capable of retaining freshness of vegetables, fruits, etc., for a long period by bringing the composition to contain a specific amount of trehalose. SOLUTION: This resin composition for retaining freshness is obtained by bringing a resin, e.g. a polyvinyl chloride, an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, a polypropylene, a polystyrene, an ABS resin, a polyamide, an acrylic resin, a polyacetal, a polyethylene terephthalate, a polycarbonate, etc., to contain 0.1-50 wt.%, preferably 1.0-20 wt.% of trehalose. As trehalose, hydrated crystalline trehalose having high purity is preferable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a resin composition for keeping freshness of vegetables and fruits for a long period of time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits are sold after being harvested, and accumulate metabolites such as water and carbon dioxide by respiration in a time course from consumption to consumption. The self-generated carbon dioxide gas lowers the vitality of the crop and lowers its value as food. In order to solve these problems, a large number of packaging materials for maintaining freshness, which can maintain the freshness of packaged vegetables and fruits for a longer period, have been proposed.

[0003] Conventionally, packaging materials for maintaining the freshness of agricultural products include:
For example, a resin material having a high gas barrier property such as a freshness-retaining packaging material having a porous structure that suppresses the respiration of fruits and vegetables by imparting micropores to resin sheets and films, vinylidene chloride, ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer, and polyacrylonitrile Into a multi-layer sheet to control the permeation of oxygen and carbon dioxide gas, and to maintain the freshness of fruits and vegetables by adding an antibacterial agent such as hinokitiol and wasabi with a multilayer structure that suppresses oxidation of the contents. An antibacterial agent-containing freshness-maintaining resin composition may, for example, be mentioned.

[0004]

However, the conventional packaging material for keeping freshness can be evaluated to the extent that freshness of vegetables and fruits can be kept for a long period of time, but cost and processability can be improved. And the stability is still insufficient. That is, the packaging material for keeping freshness having a porous structure is subjected to heat treatment and re-stretching after melt-stretching the resin using a special roll. In addition, the equipment becomes complicated, such as manufacturing by piercing with an extremely fine needle, and the process is multi-step. In addition, for a packaging material for maintaining freshness having a multilayer structure, it is necessary to use special equipment such as a multilayer extrusion device. For this reason, the manufacturing equipment for manufacturing these packaging materials for maintaining freshness cannot be used for other molded products, and increases the cost. Furthermore, an antibacterial agent-containing freshness retaining resin composition to which hinokitiol and wasabi are added,
Antibacterial agent is expensive, heat stability is not enough,
In addition, there is a problem that an irritating odor is generated during processing.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to maintain a freshness of vegetables and fruits over a long period of time without requiring a special processing machine, being inexpensive, having excellent stability during processing, and being capable of maintaining freshness over a long period of time. It is to provide a resin composition.

[0006]

Under these circumstances, the present inventors have conducted intensive studies and have found that a resin containing trehalose, a saccharide which is widely contained in plants and microorganisms and has been eaten by humans as food for many years. It has been found that the composition can be manufactured safely and at low cost, and that if it is used as a sheet or container for maintaining freshness, the freshness of vegetables and fruits can be maintained for a long period of time. Reached.

That is, the present invention provides a resin composition for maintaining freshness, characterized in that trehalose is contained in the resin composition in an amount of 0.1 to 50% by weight.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Trehalose used in the present invention is a non-reducing saccharide in which two molecules of glucose are linked by α, α-1, 1 and is mushroom, baker's yeast, seaweed,
It is contained in plants such as shrimps and microorganisms, and widely exists in the natural world. Trehalose is not particularly limited, but high-purity hydrated crystalline trehalose is preferred. Trehalose, a high-purity hydrated crystal, is formed by two functions: an enzyme that converts the reducing end of starch to non-reducing, and an enzyme that releases the trehalose moiety.

[0009] The amount of trehalose is 0.1 to 50% by weight, preferably 1.0 to 20% by weight in the resin composition. If the amount is less than 0.1% by weight, the effect of maintaining the freshness of agricultural products or the like over a long period of time is diminished. Also,
Even if the content exceeds 50% by weight, the effect of maintaining freshness is saturated, which is not preferable in terms of cost.

In the present invention, the resin in which trehalose is blended includes polyvinyl chloride, ethylene-acetic acid copolymer, polyethylene (low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene), polypropylene, polystyrene, ABS resin, polyamide, acrylic resin, Examples include polyacetal, polyethylene terephthalate, and polycarbonate.

The resin composition for maintaining freshness of the present invention can be obtained by mixing and preparing trehalose and a resin. As a method of mixing trehalose and resin,
The mixing is not particularly limited, and mixing may be performed using a known general-purpose mixer such as an extruder, a kneader, and a Henschel mixer, and a special processing machine unlike the related art is not required.

Further, the resin composition for maintaining freshness of the present invention comprises:
In addition to the trehalose, as necessary, pigments, coloring agents such as dyes, dispersants, ultraviolet absorbers, antioxidants, plasticizers, tackifiers, tackifiers, antistatic agents, antibacterial agents, sterilizing agents Agents, inorganic fillers and the like. The amount of these components is not particularly limited, but is preferably 0.05 to 10% by weight in the resin composition.

[0013] The form of the resin composition for maintaining freshness of the present invention is not particularly limited, and may be an injection molded product, a pipe molded product, a blow molded product, a foam molded product, a pellet molded product, a massive or granular molded product, a fibrous product. Molded products, blown film,
A film molded product such as a T-die film may be used. In addition, these molded products may be melted again at a construction site or the like to form a packaging material or container having an arbitrary shape such as a film shape, a sheet shape, a box shape, and a bottomed cylindrical shape.

The method for forming the film or sheet is not particularly limited, but any known method such as inflation molding or extrusion molding may be applied.
For example, biaxial stretching can be performed simultaneously or sequentially with molding. Further, a film or sheet suitable for printing or laminating by subjecting the film to corona treatment or flame treatment can be obtained. The thickness of the film or sheet is usually preferably about 3 to 2000 μm. If it is too thin, it may be damaged during packaging of agricultural products or cut flowers. On the other hand, if the thickness is too large, the handleability is reduced, and packaging of agricultural products and cut flowers becomes difficult. Further, the film or sheet may be subjected to a porous treatment.

The resin composition for maintaining freshness of the present invention is used in the above-mentioned form, and agricultural products and the like are stored and preserved by being wrapped in sheets or stored in containers. Agricultural products are not particularly limited as long as they are required to maintain freshness. Vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat, processed foods, confectionery,
Cut flowers and the like.

[0016]

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples, but this is merely an example and does not limit the present invention.

Example 1 High-purity hydrous crystalline trehalose (5 parts by weight), magnesium stearate (1 part by weight) and low-density polyethylene (LDP)
E) (Suntech F2270; manufactured by Asahi Kasei Corporation) 94 parts by weight of the compound was pelletized by a 45 mm twin-screw extruder and molded by an inflation extruder to prepare a cylindrical film having a thickness of 60 µm. An apple divided into four pieces was put into this cylindrical film, and both ends were heat-sealed. This was stored in a refrigerator at 5 ° C., and the time when it turned brown was examined. As a result, it took 50 hours for the apple to turn brown.

Comparative Example 1 Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) containing no high-purity hydrated crystalline trehalose and magnesium stearate.
(Suntech F2270; manufactured by Asahi Kasei Corporation) was used in the same manner as in Example 1 except that only Suntech F2270 was used. As a result, the apple in the cylindrical film turned brown in 2 hours.

Example 2 A rose having a paper cut around a cut end was wrapped with the cylindrical film obtained in Example 1. It was stored at room temperature 22 ° C. and the time until it withered was examined. As a result, it took six days for the rose to wither.

Comparative Example 2 The same procedure as in Example 2 was carried out except that the cylindrical film obtained in Comparative Example 1 was used. As a result, the rose wilted in two days.

Example 3 A burdock whose skin was peeled was put into the cylindrical film obtained in Example 1, and both ends were heat-sealed. In the refrigerator,
It was stored at 5 ° C. and the time when it turned brown was examined. As a result, it took 30 hours for the burdock to turn brown.

Comparative Example 3 The procedure of Example 3 was repeated except that the cylindrical film obtained in Comparative Example 1 was used. As a result, the burdock in the cylindrical film turned brown in 3 hours.

[0023]

The resin composition for maintaining freshness of the present invention can be produced at low cost without requiring a special processing machine. In addition, there is no danger of irritating odor during processing, and it has excellent stability,
Freshness of crops such as vegetables and fruits and cut flowers can be maintained for a long period of time.

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The method according to claim 1, wherein the trehalose is contained in the resin composition in an amount of from 0.1 to
A resin composition for maintaining freshness, comprising 50% by weight.