Design, construction and validation of a sanitary glove box packaging system for product shelf-life studies

A glove box has been constructed as part of an integrated pilot plant scale pulsed electric field processing and packaging system to facilitate studies of product shelf-life with selected packaging materials. The glove box was sanitized using combination of hydrogen peroxide and germicidal UV light. A HEPA air filter provided positive pressure of bacteria-free air. Nonselective nutrient broth was sterilized and filled into presanitized bottles inside the glove box. Negative and positive controls were included in the experiment. All bottles were incubated at 22C and 37C for two weeks and checked for microbial growth by measuring optical density at 600 nm using a spectrophotometer and by plating on plate count agar and potato dextrose agar for total aerobic and, yeast and mold counts, respectively. No turbidity or microbial growth was observed in the media filled in the sanitized bottles using the sanitized glove box at 22 and 37C. PEF processed orange juice using this system had a shelf-life of more than 16 weeks at 4C.