Athens, Greece-based Papadopoulos is committed to making its popular baked goods with only natural ingredients. The company uses no preservatives and, unlike other Greek bakeries, doesn’t pasteurize its products for an extended shelf life. Despite this, the bakery has achieved a 30-day “use by” date for its breads, increasing shelf life by 43%. Papadopoulos accomplished this by building a clean room for its bread flowwrapping line at its Oinofyta bakery, the first of its kind in Greece. 

The enclosed, pressurized clean room separates bread loaves from contaminants and mold spores. Only employees in special hygienic suits can enter. 

“We created a sterile environment where the air is completely clean and sterilized, even during the cooling phases, not just during cutting and packaging,” explained Gabriele Polese, commercial director at Standard Tech, the manufacturer of the clean room. 

The extended shelf life is also achieved by using a Cavanna Packaging flowwrapper, as well as an alcoholic spray Cavanna Packaging provides to ensure each bread bag is disinfected. 

“Unlike bread baggers, a flowwrapper creates a tamper-evident, airtight package,” said Bill Kehrli, vice president of sales and marketing, Cavanna Packaging. 

By implementing the clean room, flowwrapper and alcoholic spray, Papadopoulos extended the shelf life of its bread from 21 to 30 days. Kehrli noted that other bakeries are getting more than 60 days shelf life via this method. 

Many baked goods in Europe are now packaged using this technology, Kehrli added, including breads, buns, rolls and snack cakes. However, Polese noted that solutions like these have been slower to take off in North America, due in part to the continent’s greater reliance on artificial preservatives.

“It’s undeniable that in Europe there has always been greater attention to the use of natural ingredients and an aversion to the use of preservatives such as calcium propionate or sorbic acid,” he explained. “It’s obvious that in the future, there is hope that even in North America, the market will lean toward healthier solutions.”

Here, Polese and Kehrli discuss how bakeries can implement this method to boost product shelf life without preservatives.

What does a clean room entail and require?

Gabriele Polese: It requires control of temperature, humidity, overpressure to prevent contamination from nearby environments, and, of course, a high degree of filtration. It requires washable surfaces, interlocked accesses and all precautions to minimize contaminating effects on the product.

How does it contribute to the shelf life of products?

Polese: It contributes to the shelf life of products by allowing the elimination of preservatives used to protect the product from external contaminations. In short, it allows maximizing shelf life using only natural ingredients.

How much does a clean room cost, and what does a bakery need at the outset?

Polese: There is no fixed price list; it depends on many factors such as productivity and the geometry of the facilities. Initially, a client must consider the need to compartmentalize the areas where the product is exposed: from cooling to cutting and packaging. No additional space is required.

How do the three elements — clean room, alcohol and a hermetically sealed package — work together to extend the shelf life of bread?

Bill Kehrli: The flowwrap keeps unclean air and oxygen out of the package and away from the bread. This is a complete solution that uses three factors: a clean room, alcohol and a sealed flowwrap. Using one aspect only will not be sufficient to get the best results; three are required to get optimum results. 

Polese: The clean room ensures a sterile environment for operation, while high-quality packaging ensures an airtight seal, preventing air from entering. A light alcohol spray ensures the final disinfection of the packaging itself. Alcohol is not an ingredient; it does not alter the taste of the product, and after a few seconds of opening the package, it completely evaporates. It is a natural ingredient and can come from different sources with different aromas. 

What are some of the barriers or challenges with implementing this solution?

Polese: A challenge is persuading the American baker to abandon the use of long-term preservatives and choose a durable natural product over time, thanks to the use of these established technologies.

Kehrli: Although the package looks nearly identical to a premade bread bag, it will require the consumer to open one end, or depending upon the film, they may need to cut the film with scissors. The flowwrap film can feel a little harder to the consumer than a pre-made bag. Cost for the flowwrap and premade bags are similar. In general, flowwrappers require less labor and run faster with less maintenance than a bread bagger.   

What regulations must bakers understand?

Polese: The European regulations regarding packaging in a clean room are more stringent compared to the American ones. It’s just a matter of applying them in practice.