Prolong Freshness of Foods By Maintaining Vacuum Pressure

Abstract

                  Most of the grocery shops and cottage food production use the manual way of weighing and packing by using candles and sealing machines. It consumes much time and also labour work. Vacuum packing is a formation of altered atmosphere packing found throughout the world. Vacuum packing eliminates O2 from the packaged products which are put in. Oxygen is the fundamental cause for product decay. Bacteria associated with the O2 in air causes decay of food. Air contains 21% of oxygen in which the bacteria grows. While reducing the O2 level in packing, there is less chance for the survival of bacteria. Also, when the food reacts with the oxygen it causes the change in colour, odour and flavour. The elimination of oxygen can often help increase shelf life of a product. The fundamental form of vacuum packing eliminates O2 from the bag and seals when vacuum packing is finished. Vacuum packing method can also be used in the packing of meat and fish products which increases the shelf life. In this project we are mainly focused on fruit and vegetable vacuum packing. The traditional method of freezing seafood products can be complemented. The large-scale industries that use the automatic packing and vacuum sealing machine are high in cost and consumes a large area. The purpose of the machine is to extend the shelf life, reduce cost and pay workers in small and medium scale industries. The prolonged freshness of food by packing can be done by creating a vacuum using a vacuum motor, product is filled in the packet and place in a load cell in which the weight of the product can be measured and the output is given to the ATMEGA328P, which display the weight of the product. After a vacuum is created, pressure is sensed and sealed. The cover is controlled by using stepper motors, it gives stable speed control though it has changing load and provides continuous torque over an extended speed. The fruits were preserved (at room and refrigerated temperature), evaluated from chemical reaction. The lifespan of the fruits was expanded under the condition of vacuum packing (with room and refrigeration temperature) from first to fourth weeks respectively as shown in the result.