Biobased packaging for improving preservation of fresh common mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus L.)

Abstract Freshness of common mushrooms was related to the internal atmosphere composition during modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) experiments at 20 °C and 80% RH with stretchable polyvinylchloride (PVC) film, paper, and the same paper coated with a wheat gluten solution. MAP with the stretchable film led to a detrimental deterioration of mushrooms after only one day of storage: dark brown blotches appeared and almost 30% of mushrooms exhibited open veil. This was due to the formation of condensed water at the inner surface of the material and onto mushrooms combined to a high O 2 partial pressure (16 kPa) in the headspace. Wheat gluten (WG) coated paper was the most effective to improve the shelf-life of mushrooms since it allowed the preservation of a fair colour, unbroken veils, and an acceptable texture during 3 days. This beneficial effect was attributed to the combination of a medium CO 2 (9.5 kPa) and low O 2 (2.5 kPa) partial pressure, without condensation. The main drawback of using WG-coated paper was its high water vapour permeability that led to an important weight loss (3.8 wt.% on day 3). However it did not affect the overall quality of mushrooms within the storage duration. Industrial relevance Even with the development of micro-perforated materials that provide the largest range of O 2 and CO 2 permeability values, several limitations are still encountered for synthetic MAP applications such as – an insufficient perm-selectivity ratio that remains lower than 6 (value of 1 for micro-perforated material): generated atmosphere cannot reach both low O 2 and low CO 2 partial pressures and then are not adapted to CO 2 -sensitive fresh produces. – unattractive water condensation at the inner surface of the packaging that might occur due to a low water vapour permeability, favouring the development of microorganisms. – their non biodegradability. Previous studies reported a high selectivity ratio and a high water vapour permeability for biodegradable materials made from crops proteins (wheat gluten, for instance) that appeared well adapted for fresh fruits and vegetables preservation. However, despite low cost and such interesting functional properties, these materials exhibited poor mechanical properties and cannot be used as packaging material. Combination with other materials, such as cellulosic fibres, appeared to one way to get round this major drawback without losing its biodegradability. Indeed paper exhibits an environmental-friendliness potential (recyclability, sustainability, biodegradability, and compostability) and a high versatility in food packaging. By choosing common mushrooms, known to be sensitive to high CO 2 content, and a stretchable PVC film, commonly used to over-wrap mushrooms in tray (on European market), we demonstrate that this material was greatly less effective than a new biobased material (wheat gluten film coated onto paper) developed in collaboration with Smurfit Worldwide Research Center. This work confirms the interest in developing functionalised paper based packaging material with agro-based polymers adapted to the storage of fresh fruits and vegetable storage in ambient temperature.