Studies on the Selection of Plastic Woven Sacks for Storage of Food Commodities

K. Ramaswamy*², G. Uma², Vasudeva Singh¹ and N. Gunasekaran²

¹Food Protectants and Infestation Control Department, Grain Science and Technology Department ²Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore - 570 020 (India).

ABSTRACT: Mycological and insect penetration studies were evaluated on paddy, rice and wheat stored for six months (at RT and accelerated condition) in Jute, Poly Propylene (PP) and High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) woven sacks. Thirty different species of fungi belonging to the genus Aspergillus, Mucor, Rhizopus, Alternaria, Penicillium, Cladosporium and some mycelia sterile were isolated by decimal dilution technique. Aspergillus Sp. was predominant in almost all the samples analyzed. Total fungal counts varied considerably among the commodity and the paddy harbored higher number of fungal population than rice and wheat. The samples stored at accelerated condition exhibited total deterioration of the commodity within 15days due to rapid fungal growth and at the end of 30days of storage, visible fungal colonies were observed on the surface of the grain. Based on the mycological analysis and insect penetration studies it is evident that the HDPE woven sacks are more suitable for storage of food grains than the traditional Jute sacks.

KEYWORDS: Plastic woven sacks; grain-storage; periodical sampling; fungal population; relative humidity (RH)

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