Investigation of the Effects of Application of Nano-Composite of Ag and TiO2 in polyethylene packing for Preserving the Date Against Microbial Variations During Warehousing

With respect to the importance of nano technology in performance improvement of packing the food products and since date is one of the most important and strategic products in our country, in this study it would tried to investigate the effects of nano-technology in packing performance of the date. Microbial variations of date is investigated at temperatures of 25° C (ambient) and 4° C (refrigerator), depart from secondary contamination, and under following conditions for 6-month period: First, study the microbial variations of date in polyethylene packing without nano-composite particles; and second, in polyethylene packing overlapped by silver nano-composite and titanium dioxide. Structure and morphology of covers are determined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After random removal of samples and transferring them by sterilized containers to the laboratory, samples undergone microscopic analysis in the first week of each month. The obtained results in the form of factorial scheme were repeated three times, and finally Dangen multi-domain test with level of 1% was used for comparison. Results showed that microbial load of date which contains mould, yeast, aerobic mezophile bacteria and coli form drastically decreased due to the use of nano-composite particles of Ag and TiO2 in the packing of date. Activity of silver nano-particles leads to elimination of micro organism at ambient and refrigerator temperatures. Results of this research demonstrate that date can be preserved without any change under ambient and refrigerator temperatures for six months using silver nano- composite and titanium dioxide.