Oxygen scavengers are used in active packages to protect the food against deteriorative oxidation processes. The aim of this work was to investigate the possibilities to produce oxygen-scavenging packaging materials based on oxygen-reducing enzymes. The enzymes were incorporated into a dispersion coating formulation applied onto a food-packaging board using conventional laboratory coating techniques. Various enzymes were used: a glucose oxidase, an oxalate oxidase and three laccases originating from different organisms. All of the enzymes were successfully incorporated into a coating layer and could be reactivated after drying. For at least two of the enzymes, re-activation was possible not only by using liquid water but also by using water vapour. Re-activation of the glucose oxidase and a laccase required relative humidities of greater than 75% and greater than 92%, respectively. Catalytic reduction of oxygen gas by glucose oxidase was promoted by creating an open structure through addition of clay to the coating at a level above the critical pigment volume concentration. Migration of the enzyme and the substrate was reduced by adding an extrusion-coated liner of polypropylene on top of the coating. For the laccase-catalysed reduction of oxygen it was possible to use lignin derivatives as substrates for the enzymatic reaction. The laccase-catalysed reaction created a polymeric network by cross-linking of lignin-based entities, which resulted in increased stiffness and increased water-resistance of biopolymer films. The laccases were also investigated with regard to their potential to function as oxygen scavengers at low temperatures. At 7°C all three laccases retained more than 20% of the activity they had at room temperature (25°C), which suggests that the system is also useful for packaging of refrigerated food.

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All-purpose wheat flour is a useful long-term storage commodity, but is subject to off-odor formation. Although flour stored in a low oxygen atmosphere should inhibit rancid odor formation, it elicits consumer complaints about odor. The purpose of this study was to examine off-odor development in all-purpose wheat flour during ambient and elevated storage by determining the effect of low oxygen atmosphere and enrichment-bleaching on quality as measured by, free fatty acids (FFA), flour descriptive sensory analysis, conjugated dienes, headspace volatiles, bread consumer sensory analysis, color, loaf volume, and vitamin analysis. Enriched, bleached (EB) and unenriched, unbleached (UU) flour was stored in a low and normal oxygen atmosphere in no. 10 cans at 22, 30, and 40°C for 24 weeks. Moisture remained constant throughout the study. Headspace oxygen was < 0.1% in flour stored in a low oxygen atmosphere and decreased in flour stored in a normal oxygen atmosphere. FFA increased with storage time and temperature. The "fresh flour" descriptive aroma of flour decreased during storage and decreased more rapidly in a low oxygen atmosphere. The "cardboard/stale" aroma increased in flour stored in a normal oxygen atmosphere. The "acid-metallic" aroma increased in flour stored in a low oxygen atmosphere and was determined to be the off-odor from consumer complaints. Conjugated dienes and volatiles generally increased more rapidly in flour stored in a normal oxygen atmosphere and in EB flour, suggesting that the acid-metallic odor did not result from lipid oxidation. Bread consumer sensory analysis identified EB flour stored in a normal oxygen atmosphere to have the lowest acceptance scores for aroma, overall acceptability, and flavor. The acid-metallic odor dissipated within 24 hours when the container was opened and was not detrimental to consumer acceptance of bread made from the flour. Oxygen absorbers prevented the darkening of flour but not the reddening or yellowing. A low oxygen atmosphere resulted in higher bread loaf volumes. Vitamin degradation is not a concern under normal storage conditions. Bleaching appears to increase flour oxidative rancidity more than enrichment. Although storage at a low oxygen atmosphere results in an off-odor present in newly opened cans, it gave higher quality flour and bread. A low oxygen atmosphere should continue to be used in flour stored long-term, and consumers should be made aware that the off-odor present in cans of flour dissipates after opening.

Les capteurs d’oxygène sont le plus grand apport dans la technologie des emballages actifs parce qu’ils permettent de retarder la dégradation oxydante des aliments et ainsi éviter la perte de saveurs et le développement microbien au sein des aliments. Bien que le développement des emballages actes existe depuis les années 70 dans des pays producteur agricole, la recherche sur ces emballages reste encore embryonnaire, en particulier sur les critères techniques portant sur l’absorption d’oxygène de films. Cette thèse constitue une contribution sur l’étude des cinétiques d’absorption d’oxygène de l’huile de lin comme capteur d’oxygène. L’oxydation de l’huile et d’esters insaturés (composé modèle de l’huile) est suivie sous différentes conditions d’exposition (températures comprises entre 40-110°C et pressions partielles d’oxygène entre 0 et 1 bar). Expérimentalement, on propose de caractériser l’absorption d’oxygène liée à l’oxydation de l’huile par thermogravimétrie (ATG), suivi de concentration d’oxygène et titrage de peroxide. Un modèle cinétique basé des schémas classiques avec décomposition des hydroperoxydes, est proposé pour simuler l’oxydation de l’huile de lin et des esters insaturés modèles. Ce modèle est ensuite extrapolé à des films de différentes épaisseurs de polypropylène (PP) contenant 1% d’huile de lin en considérant que cette dernière est bien dispersé dans la matrice PP et que la diffusion d’oxygène est pilotée par la matrice PP. / Oxygen scavengers (OS) are one of the most important technology of active packaging, because prevents oxidative degradation related with off-flavours, off-odours and microbial growth in food. Although active packaging has been proposed since 1970s, in developing countries with a large agricultural base, active packaging still remains unexplored both in terms of application and research, there is a lack of technical criteria on O2 scavenging films, labels, sheets, and trays. This PhD thesis is a contribution in the study of linseed oil as active ingredient for OS providing a kinetic characterization of its thermo-oxidation between 40°C and 110°C in atmospheres with different oxygen concentration. In the experimental approach, innovative application of TGA was proposed to study oxygen uptake capacity complemented by headspace and peroxide value measurements. The kinetic model, derived from a classic mechanistic scheme where initiation of thermo-oxidation results from decomposition of hydroperoxides, was capable to simulated linseed oil oxidation, and also oxygen absorptions of polypropylene films, of different thickness, containing 1% of linseed oil, with hypotheses of well dispersion of linseed oil in PP matrix, and oxygen diffusion governed by the PP matrix.