Predicting the Agar-Agar Powder Shelf-Life in Pectin-Based and LDPE Packaging via the Arrhenius-based Accelerated Shelf-life Test (ASLT) Rosnita A Talib*, Nurzia Mohamad, Siti Hajar Othman, Intan Syafinaz Mohamed Amin Tawakkal, Farah Saleena Taip and Roseliza Kadir Basha
Department of Process and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
*email of corresponding author: rosnita[at]upm.edu.my
Abstract
The water activity change rate was measured on agar-agar powder (AAP) packaged using pectin-based (pectin:pineapple juice:glycerin:beeswax:glyceryl monostearate at a ratio of 1:1:0.2:0.01:0.002) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) packaging during storage at ambient (25 degree Celsius, RH 75 percent) and accelerated (35 degree Celsius, RH 75 percent) temperatures for 35 days. The linear regression results showed that the AAP water activity increases rates in pectin-based and LDPE packaging, followed by the Peleg and first-order kinetics model, respectively. The Arrhenius-based Q10 for the AAP in pectin-based packaging was around 1.24, predicting a shelf-life of 23 and 19 days during ambient and accelerated temperatures, respectively. A lower Q10 of 1.22 and predicted shelf-life of 61 and 50 days, respectively, were obtained from LDPE packaging.
Keywords: Agar-agar powder- Water activity- Arrhenius- Shelf-life- Peleg- First-order
