Shelf life prediction of cereal-based dry foods packed in moisture-sensitive films

A mathematical model able to predict the storage life of cereal-based dry foods is presented. The developed model was, used to assess the influence on the shelf life of cereal-based dry products of both the water barrier properties of the package and the affinity of the packed food with water. Three different cereal-based dry foods and 3 different polyamide films were investigated. It was found that the shelf fife of the investigated food s, as predicted by means of the proposed model, could be overestimated by about 90% if the dependence of water permeability coefficient on water activity inside and outside the package is neglected.