On July 27, the Korea Agricultural Promotion Agency announced that it has developed a new packaging technology that can extend the freshness of small tomatoes by two times, mainly by replacing the air inside the small tomato packaging container with a certain ratio of gas mixture. It is said that the core of this technology lies in the packaging of small tomatoes, filled with a gas that can maintain freshness, the gas used is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide.

        The specific method is to fill the container with 750 grams of small tomatoes, extract the air to form a vacuum state and then fill with a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide, the ratio of the gas mixture is 91% nitrogen, 6% oxygen and 3% carbon dioxide. The plastic film used for the packaging was the one with the least change in gas concentration under the circulation environment of 10~20℃, and its oxygen transmission rate was 25000 OTR (Oxygen Transmission Rate, cc/24hr-㎡).

        The technology reduces the respiration rate of small tomatoes by 1/3 compared with normal vacuum packaging in a 15°C circulation environment, and the time that small tomatoes remain fresh is extended from 3 days to 6 days. In addition to the effect of reducing the respiration rate of the fruit, the technology also has the effect of maintaining the surface color, flesh hardness and tip freshness of the fruit.