Preventing the Temperature Rise of Cold Packaged Food Products Using Thermal Energy Absorbing Materials

Application of phase change materials (PCMs) is an effective solution for storage and transfer energy(latent heat)that has been of great interest in recent years. PCMs store thermal energy during the phase change and release it when necessary by reversing the phase change step. PCMs are able to hold latent heat energy without any change even after thousands of phase cycles. Solid-Liquid phase change materials are divided into three categories of organic materials (e.g. paraffin waxes, fatty acids, etc.), mineral materials (e.g. hydrated salts, metals and salts), and eutectics. Food packaging plays a key role in the preservation of food materials during the processes of storage, transportation and delivery to the consumer. One way to increase the shelf life of food products is to avoid the temperature fluctuations in food storage and transportation, using phase change materials in food packaging. Recently, the use of PCMs in food transportation and packaging systems (such as meat, ice cream, etc.) has been the focus of researchers. In this study, while introducing phase change materials and their types, evaluation of research methods, and their application in food packaging were investigated.