Mass and Heat Transfer Modeling of Bio-Substrates during Packaging.

Perishable bio-substrate behavior can be modeled during packaged storage. Local mass and heattransfer have been coupled to respiration rate and microbial growth. Validating measurements have also been performed, and a multi-objective optimization was employed to tune the model. The model is able to simulate gas composition history and local bacteria spoilage in storage modes commonly adopted by the food industry, depending on product features and temperature. Exploitation of this mathematical tool would allow for informed technical and management decisions.