Effect of Packaging Materials on Storage Stability of Traditional Indian Dairy Confection Peda

Peda, a heat desiccated traditional dairy product popular in northern India suffers from poor shelf life due loss of moisture from the surface, mold growth, rancidity etc. Packaging plays an important role in controlling microbial growth as well as biochemical changes and the shelf life can be increased by changing the packaging system. In the present study the role of packaging materials on the storage stability of peda was evaluated at ambient (30±1⁰C) and refrigerated (7±1⁰C) conditions. Peda was prepared in the laboratory from standardized cow milk (4.5% fat and 8.5% SNF) with addition of 8% sugar on the basis of milk and kept without packaging (P0) as well as packaged in two most suitable packaging materials viz. paper box (P1) and polypropylene pouches (P2). During storage the sensory quality, physico-chemical properties, texture profile and microbiological quality was carried out at regular interval. It was found that the rate of most of the quality deteriorative parameters was rapid in P0 followed by P1 and P2 at both storage temperatures. Based on the results obtained in this study it can be concluded that at ambient temperature peda samples could be best preserved up to 4 days without packaging, 8 days in paper box and 14 days in polypropylene pouches whereas refrigerated samples kept well up to 20, 30 and 50 days in P0, P1 and P2 respectively.