총설 : 상품적 유통을 고려한 김치 포장의 기술혁신 현황

Kimchi, a Korean fermented vegetable is packaged without pasteurization and distributed with live bacteria actively working to produce lactic acid and carbon dioxide gas in the product. The CO2 production consisting of two distinct phases of initial fast and later slow rates depends on kimchi type, salt content and storage temperature. The CO2 produced from kimchi is accumulated in the product package causing volume expansion and pressure buildup. The dependence of CO2 production rate on salt content and storage temperature has been published formerly and can be used for estimating the package volume and pressure under a variety of storage conditions. As methods to alleviate the problems from the produced CO2, package designs with controlled diffusion pinhole, high CO2 permeable film or CO2 absorber have been tried by several researchers. Properly designed packages adopting the device or tool were shown to have high dissolved CO2 in kimchi without volume expansion and pressure buildup, giving good sensory quality with carbonic taste. Advantages and limitations of each method have been discussed.