Seafood Company Increases Quality With Package Integrity Testing Technology

In 2004, Mariscos Linamar, a Spanish seafood company, began to investigate the innovative idea of packaging a proportion of its product in a modified atmosphere, with the aim to extend the product shelf life and improve its appearance. Years of research followed. After extensive research and trials, the optimal gas mixture, comprising oxygen and carbon dioxide blended in a ratio that depends on the product and the format of the package, had been decided upon as well as the best packaging approach. This case study illustrates the process the company used to implement Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) with thermosealed trays.

Mariscos Linamar is a seafood company based in Cambados, Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The company was founded by pioneering businesswoman Lina Solla in 1998. Today it harvests, cleans and packages around five million kilos of shellfish each year – mainly mussels and clams. Approximately eighty per cent of the product is for the domestic market, with the remainder exported within Europe.

New Innovative Idea Using MAP
In 2004 the company began to investigate the innovative idea of packaging a proportion of its product in a modified atmosphere, with the aim to extend the product shelf life and improve its appearance. The move, explains Linamar’s Financial Director Gonzalo Molpeceres, was also important as a way of distinguishing the product from those of Linamar’s competitors.