| The water vapor transmission rate and permeance constants were determined for the seven commodity films. The moisture isotherm of the confectionery product was developed at a temperature of 23°C, to allow the selection of storage conditions, in which the product would gain moisture as well as lose moisture. The extent of moisture uptake by a confectionery product packaged in the respective commodity packaging structures was also evaluated over a storage period of 115 days, at ambient temperature and low (20%) and high (75%) relative humidity conditions. Hardness of the nougat phase was determined to evaluate the effect of moisture and relative humidity. Based on the statistical analysis, no statistically significant differences between the performance of the respective package film structures were observed over the storage period. The moisture loss or gain of the packaged product at the two different relative humidity conditions, was assumed to pass through micro-voids in the cold seal closure area. The packaging structures were found to have no significant effect on the hardness of the nougat phase of the product over the storage conditions studied. The storage conditions however, had a statistical significance difference on the hardness in all packaged products. |
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