Evaluation of two packaging systems for regional cheese

Saloio cheese - a regional Portuguese cheese - is currently sold unpackaged or in a vacuum package. Neither of these packaging systems is acceptable: the first system yields a cheese too hard, because of excessive water loss, while the second yields a white cheese with poor textural properties. The use of a packaging system with a tailor-made moisture barrier, i.e., allowing for water loss, but at a lower rate, is a way of extending the cheese's shelf-life. The adequate water vapour permeability to preserve the cheese was previously determined as 6.8 × 10^-7 g m/m²day Pa at 8 °C. The objective of this work was to develop a packaging system providing the required relative humidity inside the package. Two systems were tested: (i) the active system Humidipak^® and (ii) perforated plastic films. Both packaging systems succeeded in extending the cheese's shelf-life by significantly decreasing the water loss. Perforated films require further study on moulds growth control.