Influence of PET bottle weight,closure performance and filling Technique on the oxygen content of soya cooking oil

The use of PET bottles for edible oil in Brazil is increasing but there is a trend to reduce bottle weight for economic reasons, which decreases the oxygen barrier of the package. The barrier performance of a 20 g PET bottle for 900 ml soya oil, submitted to gas flushing with gaseous N₂ and pressurization with liquid N₂, was compared with a 27 g PET conventional bottle. During 8 months storage at 25°C the internal pressure, dissolved oxygen and oxygen in the headspace were evaluated and did not change significantly. Liquid N₂ pressurization did not improve the efficiency of reducing O₂ in the headspace compared to N₂ gas flushing. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.