How to increase the shelf life of cereal and nut snacks through innovative processing methods, ingredients, additives, or any packaging solution?

Description

The common way to process cereal and nut snacks is to toast them in oil (fry them) or dry roast them.In both cases, cooking temperatures are high (>170ºC). This causes the natural unsaturated fatty acids present in nuts and cereals, as well as the frying oil (mainly sunflower seed oil, also highly unsaturated), to become prone to oxidation during their shelf life.

Cutting-edge packaging solutions offer plastic films with oxygen and water vapor barriers, as well as nitrogen flushing, to prevent oxygen from coming into contact with snacks and nuts during storage until the preferred consumption date. (Usually 5 to 10 months). However, any leaks in sealing the bags and the inevitable small amount of remaining oxygen ultimately lead to degradation and the appearance of unpleasant flavors as the snacks approach the end of their shelf life. TTAF aims to prevent the degradation of nuts and snacks by cooking them in a different way.

Possible approaches

• Lower temperatures or different processes that may result in oil-free "fresh-like" fatty acid chains.

• Oil substitutes that could be used as a frying agent without related chemical oxidation processes.

• Natural antioxidants available that remain stable during the heating process.A new solution that will be added to the packaging material that may impact the stability of the contained food: any additive or processing solution to improve the sealing properties of the films.

Solutions not of interest

• High-barrier film alternatives (the company already uses combinations of PP, PET, and PE).

• Commercial iron-based oxygen removal pouches.

• Antioxidants (e.g., rosemary extract) that do prevent crude oil oxidation but lose their protective effect when the oil reaches high temperatures.

• New ingredients or new foods not approved in the EU.