Why this course?

The main objective of this post-academic course is to give the participants a broad and clear overview of the packaging of food products. This must enable them to set up a good combination of food product, packaging and filling system which will deliver the desired shelf-life for a specific food product.

Food products are sensitive to many factors such as oxygen, light, temperature and moisture. Packaging materials need therefore to have the right properties to avoid or at least postpone chemical and/or microbiological degradation of the food product. The sterility of the filling system and the injection of gases will contribute to the final establishment of the shelflife. Also the way of distribution and the distribution temperature are important parameters.

The course is divided in four modules and will start with the basics of chemical, physiological and microbiological degradation of food products and how packaging can affect these spoilage phenomena. In the next two modules, packaging materials are highlighted. Not only the production and the technical characteristics, but also special requirements and new technologies of these packaging materials are discussed. In the last module, attention is paid to the different filling techniques and to the marketing and distribution of food products.