JPS6333278A - Method of holding freshness of foods - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a method for preserving the freshness of foods.

[Conventional technology and its problems]

As the name suggests, freshness is the key to fresh foods such as vegetables, fruits, seafood, and meat. However, in reality, it is well known that within a short period of time, freshness is lost due to wilting, discoloration, deterioration, and spoilage, resulting in a decrease in commercial value.

Various means and methods have been proposed or implemented in the past to prevent such deterioration of freshness. There is a method of loading a deoxidizing agent, but it is not very effective. There are also methods such as gas filling and vacuum packing, but these methods are expensive due to the use of special equipment and gas, and have the drawback of being relatively ineffective. There is also a method of applying chemicals, but there is a risk of having an adverse effect on the human body, and there are many problems in terms of safety measures.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention was developed through research to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a method that can reliably maintain the freshness of fresh foods at low cost and without any harm. It's about doing.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention uses a material made by dispersing and mixing fine powder of glauconite, a natural mineral, into a base material and processing it into a flat or three-dimensional shape, and uses this material to package the target food. This is what I did.

The present invention will be described in detail below. Glauconite is a mineral resulting from an undersea volcanic explosion, and is itself a known substance. However, as a result of many years of experiments and studies by the present inventor, it has been found that the following characteristics exist.

That is, first of all, as a physical property, it is porous with high adsorption power and does not lose its porous structure even when crushed into ultrafine powder on the micron scale. For example, 325 meshes (44
Even when crushed to micrometers (μm), it has a surface area of about 250 micrometers per gram. This is because activated carbon, which is said to be easily pulverized, is
This is a remarkable characteristic compared to the loss of porosity at 3 mm.

Next, in terms of its compositional and chemical characteristics, it contains a wide variety of mineral components (approximately 45 types), and its blending ratio is well-balanced.

In particular, it contains 33% or more of a water-soluble soluble acid, contains germanium, is a (-) oxygen group, and has a trace amount of electric charge.

The present invention was developed based on this knowledge in order to make maximum use of this characteristic.
Add fine powder of mesh ↑;).

Even in the case of such fine powder, the porosity is not lost as described above, and the internal volume of the particles is large.

Next, this fine glauconite powder is added to a desired base material to obtain a composite mixture in which the fine glauconite powder is uniformly dispersed.

Typical base materials include synthetic resins, paper materials, cloth materials, rubber, or composite materials of one or more of these materials, and other materials such as pottery, ceramics, glass, etc. are also not excluded.

The amount of glauconite fine powder added to the base material is generally 5 to 15% of the weight of the base material. The reason why the lower limit was set is that below this limit, the freshness preservation effect of glauconite cannot be sufficiently obtained. The -4- limit is for economical reasons and to avoid segregation.If it is acceptable even if segregation occurs, or if segregation is difficult to occur due to the material manufacturing process, a larger amount may be added. Needless to say.

Next, this composite raw material is processed into planar materials such as films, sheets, and plates, or into materials in the shape of three-dimensional containers such as hollow, box, and bowl shapes. For example, when the base material is synthetic resin, the particle size of the raw material pellets is generally 3 to 5 IIW11.
However, in order to obtain freshness-preserving film and sheet materials according to the present invention, the diameter of the raw material pellets is made into a powder as fine as possible, fine glauconite powder is added to this, kneaded with a mixer, etc., and this is processed by the inflation method. Extrusion by etc.
Just inflate it and roll it up. As a result, a planar material in which fine glauconite powder is finely and uniformly dispersed can be obtained.

The molding method is arbitrary, and any method may be selected depending on the shape and structure of the material, such as extrusion including the above-mentioned inflation method, blowing, injection molding, compression molding, and vacuum forming.

Of course, the synthetic resin also includes foamed resin,
In this case as well, fine glauconite powder may be added to the base material at the stage of manufacturing the beads, thereby producing a plate or three-dimensional container in which fine glauconite powder is dispersed.

In addition, if the base material is a cellulose-based material such as paper, the cellulose may be dispersed in a colloidal liquid in advance, or the cellulose may be added to the strained cellulose by spraying. A paper product in which fine greenstone powder is dispersed is obtained.

Then, the materials obtained as described above are used as interior or exterior packaging to bring into contact with foods that need to be kept fresh, and if the materials are films, sheets, or boards, these materials are placed in cardboard boxes for shipping. Food can be placed so that it is in contact with this. In addition, at home, etc., food may be directly wrapped in the above-mentioned materials and stored. If the material is a bag, box, etc., the food may be stored in this.

When such a method is adopted, the fine glauconite powder dispersed in the lumber is porous and has a large surface area as described above. Because of this, the adsorption efficiency is extremely high, and it adsorbs ethylene gas, carbon dioxide gas, free protein, etc. released from foods, and replaces them with other harmless substances (for example, hexavalent chromium) through the catalytic action of germanium, especially oxygen catalytic action. →Divalent chromium), it also adsorbs and sterilizes bacteria that cause putrefaction, and adjusts the pH to weak alkaline through ion exchange.

At the same time, it also absorbs the moisture that food releases due to sudden changes in temperature and humidity, and when the food stops releasing moisture, it spits out the absorbed moisture.

This expelled water is mineral water containing various elements including the water-soluble acids contained in the particles, so it has no adverse effect on the food. That is, spoilage bacteria do not develop or multiply due to moisture, and even if food is damaged, the soluble acid coats it, preventing the growth of viruses and fungi.

Furthermore, in response to temperature changes, fine glauconite powder is porous and forms a wall with a large surface area that blocks the inside and outside of the lumber, reducing heat conduction and reducing temperature changes that cause food to lose freshness. .

For this reason, food is placed under conditions that match its physiological phenomena, allowing it to live for a long time.

〔Example〕

1 to 3 show embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 1(a) shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a film, sheet, or board, and FIG. 1(b) shows an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3(c) shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a box-shaped material made of foamable resin. In any of the examples, the glauconite fine powder 2 is uniformly dispersed in the base material 1.

Figure 2 shows an enlarged view of the composite structure of the base material 1 and the fine glauconite powder 2. Each particle of the fine glauconite powder 2 has ultrafine pores 3.
In FIG. 2 (,), each particle of the glauconite fine powder 2 has pores 3 exposed from the substrate surface 4 on the food enveloping side. In FIG. 2(b), each particle of the glauconite fine powder 2 is confined in the thickness direction of the base material 1. In the case of this example as well, as long as the base material 1 has air permeability, the above-mentioned performance can be sufficiently exhibited.

FIG. 3 illustrates the food packaging form according to the present invention,
FIG. 3(a) shows that the material A shown in FIG. 1(a) is used, the material A is attached to a cardboard box using the material according to the present invention or a normal cardboard box 6, and foods 5 such as fruits and vegetables are placed in the material A. It was wrapped in material A and packaged. In FIG. 3(b), the material A' of FIG. 1(a) is used and food 5 is stored therein. In FIG. 3(c), the material A'' in FIG. 1(a) is used to store food 5 such as seafood and meat.

In either case, due to the characteristics of glauconite described above, discoloration,
It prevents shriveling, deterioration, etc., and can maintain freshness for a long period of time.

According to the inventor's actual tests, polyethylene (PP)
#40, add 325 mesh glauconite fine powder 5.7.5
゜10.15wt% was added to make a 0.8mm thick film, which was placed in a cardboard box and broccoli,
Asparagus, eggplant, cucumber, mitsuba, tomato, summer tangerine, banana, and spinach were individually housed and sealed.
Freshness was maintained for at least 5 times as many days compared to when the present invention was not applied.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention described above, the freshness of fresh foods such as vegetables, fruits, seafood, and meat can be reliably maintained, and it can be carried out without pollution and at low cost. can get.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing several examples of materials used in the practice of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the materials in the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the state of freshness preservation according to the present invention. .

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for preserving the freshness of foods, characterized by using a material prepared by dispersing and mixing fine powder of glauconite into a base material and processing the material into a flat or three-dimensional shape, and packaging the target food with this material.