Background of the Invention Field of the Invention

This invention relates to food product packaging, and more particularly to a method for packing food product to prevent odour emission from the food product, and to an odour resistant packaged food product. Description of Related Arts

Tropical fruits are food products with excellent market prospects in the world by virtue of the taste and nutrients of the fruits. However, food packaging industries and exporters face some challenging obstacles in packing and transporting some of the fruits that emit odour which may not be acceptable to every consumer, for instance, a durian. Said odourous fruit limits potential of commodities market as there exists a lot of resistances for transporting said type of odourous fruit.

An approach of fruit packaging has been disclosed in WO 99/25625. Said invention packs the fruit with pungent and strong odour, for example a durian, using an odour-proof package containing a sealable container having a gas-permeable port as a passage of gas. The gas-permeable port includes odour-absorbing material that absorbs any gaseous odour entering the port and to prevent the emission of the odour. Said invention has a drawback that the odour-proof package could only be used to pack ready-to-consume fruit, but not the whole fruit with thorny shell.

Accordingly, it can be seen in the prior arts that there exists a need to provide an alternative method of packing fruit to prevent the emission of odour from the fruit, particularly fruit with shell. Summary of Invention

It is an objective of the present invention to provide a method for packing fruit and particularly fruit that emits pungent and strong odour, wherein said fruit includes fruit with thorns such as durian.

It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a method for packing fruit having pungent and strong odour that can resist 99.9% or more odour emission.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a method for packing fruit product without the utilisation of odour-absorbing material and gas permeable port; but able to maintain fruit quality and freshness.

It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a method for packing fruit with shock absorbing protection and cost effective.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a method for packing fruit in the original appearance or particularly whole fruit with shell.

It is further objective of the present invention to provide an odour resistant packaging fruit that eliminates the utilisation of gas-permeable port, but aids in reducing fruit respiration and prolonging the storage life span of the packaged fruit.

Accordingly, these objectives may be achieved by following the teachings of the present invention. The present invention relates to a method of packing a fruit to prevent emission of odour from the fruit. Said method initially started by cleaning outer surface of the fruit. Then, the fruit is disinfected with a disinfected solution and followed by drying. Thereafter, the cleaned disinfected fruit with a casing for absorbing moisture, reducing respiration rate of the disinfected fruit and absorb shock. An antimicrobial agent is placed within the casing for preventing growth of bacteria or microorganism. The enclosed fruit is then sealed and vacuum packed to form a packaged fruit resistant to emission of odour from the fruit.

An odour resistant packaged fruit produced according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a fruit disinfected with a disinfected solution; a casing for enclosing the disinfected fruit to absorb moisture, reduce respiration rate of the disinfected fruit, and absorb shock; within the casing; and wherein said enclosed disinfected fruit is sealed and vacuum packed. Brief Description of the Drawings

The features of the invention will be more readily understood and appreciated from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, in which: Fig. 1 is a flow chart of a method of packing fruit to prevent emission of odour from the fruit;

Fig. 2 is a drawing showing a casing;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of a first preferred embodiment of an odour resistant packaged fruit; and

Fig. 4a is a cross sectional view of a second preferred embodiment of an odour resistant packaged fruit.

Detailed Description of the Invention

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting but merely as a basis for claims. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modification, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e. , meaning must). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean including, but not limited to. Further, the words "a" or "an" mean "at least one" and the word "plurality" means one or more, unless otherwise mentioned. Where the abbreviations of technical terms are used, these indicate the commonly accepted meanings as known in the technical field. For ease of reference, common reference numerals will be used throughout the figures when referring to the same or similar features common to the figures. The present invention will now be described with reference to Figs. 1 -4.

The present invention relates to method for packing food product to prevent odour emission, and to an odour resistant packaged food product.

Referring to Figure 1 , a method of packing a fruit to prevent emission of odour from the fruit (14) is illustrated. Said method is characterized by the steps of cleaning outer surface of the fruit (14); then, disinfecting the fruit (14) with a disinfectant; then, enclosing the cleaned disinfected fruit with a casing for absorbing moisture, reducing respiration rate of the disinfected fruit and absorb shock; wherein an antimicrobial agent (12) is enclosed in the casing (1 1 ) with the fruit (14), for preventing growth of bacteria or microorganism; then, sealing and vacuum packing the wrapped fruit using a vacuum bag (13) to form a packaged fruit resistant to emission of odour from the fruit (14).

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fruit (14) is a fruit with shell or a fruit with shell having thorns, including a durian.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disinfectant is preferably selected from chlorine dioxide, or sodium dichoroisocyanurate. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the casing (1 1 ) comprises polyethylene and paper material. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the vacuum bag (13) is made from plastic, including nylon.

After harvesting the fruit (14), for example the durian, the outer surface of the fruit (14) is cleaned. A person skilled in the art will recognize that the fruit (14) mentioned herewith may include any type of fruits besides the exemplary fruit. Usually, said outer surface of the harvested fruit (14) may have foreign materials such as leaf, debris, soil, branches and cobwebs. To clean the outer surface of the fruit, a brush may preferably be used to remove the foreign materials of the outer surface of the fruit (14).

Following the cleaning step, the fruit (14) with cleaned outer surface is disinfected with a disinfectant for sanitising the outer surface of the fruit. Preferably the disinfectant is selected from chlorine dioxide, or sodium dichoroisocyanurate; and more preferably is chlorine dioxide. Said chlorine dioxide has a preferred concentration of 2-4 ppm (parts per million). In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cleaned fruit is rinsed with the disinfectant and dried, such as by air drying or blow drying, for about 2-5 minutes to thoroughly dry the disinfected fruit. In order to prevent the disinfected fruit from reacting with gas or moisture and to prevent further microbial growth, the disinfected fruit is then enclosed with a casing (1 1 ). The casing (1 1 ) can absorb moisture and gas, and hence reducing the respiration rate of the disinfected fruit. In addition, the casing (1 1 ) is further used to absorb shock, protect the fruit (14) during transportation and ensure the disinfected fruit remains intact while in supply chain. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the casing (1 1 ) comprises polyethylene and paper material. The configuration of the casing (1 1 ) may vary in shape such as a square shape, a cylindrical shape or a shape configured according to the outer appearance of the fruit.

When assessing the quality of the fruit (14), particularly durian fruit, a skilled person may identify the type of durian and determine the quality of the durian by assessing the stem of the durian and bottom of the durian husk. To accommodate said quality assessment, the casing (1 1 ) of a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a top layer (1 1 1 ), a middle layer (1 12) and a bottom layer (1 13) as illustrated in Figure 2. The top layer (1 1 1 ) and the bottom layer (1 13) are made from polyethylene; and wherein the middle layer (1 12) is made from paper material. Said polyethylene is a see-through material that enables quality assessment by the skilled person. The paper material aids in moisture and gas absorption to reduce respiration rate of the disinfected fruit. The casing (1 1 ) that made from the polyethylene and paper material has a thickness sufficient to prevent the thorns of the disinfected fruit from perforated from the casing during sealing and vacuum packing. The casing (1 1 ) is configured in a way that the top layer (1 1 1 ) is first coupled to the top of the durian fruit and followed by coupling the bottom layer (1 13) to the bottom of the durian fruit. Thereafter, the middle layer (1 12) is wrapped or coupled to the top layer (1 1 ) and the bottom layer ( 3). The antimicrobial agent (12) is enclosed with the fruit (14) in the casing (1 1 ) to prevent microbial growth and absorb moisture. The utilisation of the antimicrobial agent (12) can avoid the contamination of the disinfected fruit (14). The antimicrobial agent (12) is preferably but not limited to an iron-based antimicrobial paper; a graphene-based antimicrobial paper including graphene oxide sheet or a reduced graphene-oxide sheet; or a silver-based antimicrobial paper. The iron-based antimicrobial paper preferably comprises three layers including first layer, second layer and third layer. The first layer is made polypropylene coated with iron; the second layer is an air-laid nonwoven fabric; and the third layer is an adhesive layer containing olefin.

After enclosing the disinfected fruit (14) with the casing (1 1 ), the enclosed fruit is subjected to sealing and vacuum packing. Any type of vacuum sealing machine can be utilised in sealing and vacuum packing the enclosed fruit of the present invention. The enclosed fruit is preferably placed inside a vacuum bag (13), preferably a nylon bag, before the sealing. Thereafter, the vacuum bag (13) containing the enclosed fruit is sealed by heating the selected area of vacuum bag (13) until said layer softens and droops. A vacuum is then created to draw the vacuum bag (13) down around the enclosed fruit to provide a tightly packaged fruit. The vacuum packing aids in increasing resistant to odour emission from the fruit (14).

The present invention also provides an odour resistant packaged fruit (10). Said odour resistant packaged fruit (10) comprises a fruit (14) and wherein said fruit (14) is initially disinfected with the disinfectant; a casing (1 ) for enclosing the disinfected fruit to absorb moisture, reduce respiration rate of the disinfected fruit, and absorb shock; an antimicrobial agent (12) enclosed in the casing (1 1 ) with the fruit (14); and wherein said enclosed disinfected fruit is then be sealed and vacuum packed using a vacuum bag (13). In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fruit (14) is a fruit with shell or a fruit with shell having thorns, including durian.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disinfectant is selected from chlorine dioxide, or sodium dichoroisocyanurate. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the vacuum bag (13) is made from plastic, including nylon.

Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrate cross sectional view of various embodiments of the odour resistant packaged fruit produced in accordance to the method of packing the fruit (14) of the present invention. The casing (11) of the odour resistant packaged fruit (10) has varying configuration, shape, size and dimension. As shown in Figure 3, the casing (1 1 ) that comprises of three layers including the top layer (1 1 1 ), the middle layer (1 12) and the bottom layer (1 13), is fabricated in round shape. The casing (1 1 ) of Figure 4 is configured in rectangular shape.

The method of packing a fruit (14) to prevent emission of odour from the fruit (14) in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention may prevent at least 99.9 % of odour emission from the fruit (14).

Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, also shown in the appended figures, it will be apparent for those skilled in the art that many variations and modifications can be done within the scope of the invention as described in the specification and defined in the following claims.

Description of the reference numerals used in the accompanying drawings according to the present invention:

Reference

Description

Numerals

10 Odour resistant packaged fruit

1 1 Casing

12 Antimicrobial agent

13 Vacuum bag

14 Fruit

1 1 1 Top layer of the casing

1 12 Middle layer of the casing

1 13 Bottom layer of the casing