keep the study relevant.

Once you have chosen the conditions, consider your time frame. How long do you need the study to last? (You can use your research to help with this. Assume that you may want to be able to keep the study going at least as long as the manufacturer does. That decided, you'll also have to decide how often you will examine your samples. This is important because you have to prepare a separate package for each time point that you plan to examine them. You can only open a package once before the storage conditions have changed, and you've exposed it to air/moisture/light/germs. (It is usually best to test frequently at the start and less often later on. You might start with every day, then every two days, every week, etc.) Lastly, you'll have to decide what test you will use to determine the freshness/expiration of your food when you sample it. Will you use smell, taste, appearance, texture or some other criteria as your measure of the food's fitness. (If you're doing raw meat, please don't use taste.)

Step 4: Have at Thee

With your plans made, buy up all the food and packaging material you'll need for the duration of the study. In one day, prepare all the packages of your food and place them in the designated storage places. (Remember, you'll have seven, or twelve, or fifty of each package in each place, depending on how often you plan to test your samples and for how long.) This is your Day Zero, when you know everything was fresh. Take care in packaging that you use clean materials (and hands) so that you don't cause spoilage sooner than expected.

On your designated days, sample one of each packaging type, and record freshness or not-so-freshness in your notebook, chart, or other data log. You'll have to decide on a rating system depending on the food. (Crackers are: hard and tasty, hard and tasteless, somewhat soft but tasty, very soft and tasteless, somewhat soft and covered in green fuzz...) In the end, you're going to identify when (if ever) the food in a certain package type expired. Once that happens, you don't have to continue testing that packaging type. (Food doesn't un-spoil, after all.)

Step Five: Mopping Up

Now it's time to evaluate your data and write your report.

Give the basic facts: Define each packaging type, and Report how long it kept food from expiring.

Evaluate: Compare the relative effectiveness of the different packaging types, based on how long they kept the food good. Compare this against the amount of time given by the manufacturer. Draw conclusions about which types of packaging materials are most effective at preserving which types of foods. (Conclusions must be supported by your research - no speculating.)

Apply the knowledge: Look at the cost of each type of packaging, and estimate what it would cost to use on a large scale. Dividing the packaging cost by the number of packages gives an idea of how much must be added to the price of the food. Is there a best option for packaging versus expense?

Speculate: Let the creative juices flow - describe how you could take the experiment further to build upon what you've already learned. If any questions were raised by your experiments, describe how you can go about answering them. Best of all, if you got into this project, this is your chance to start planning to continue it for next year.

One last note - if you find a better, cheaper way to package food - apply for a patent. (Don't delay!) Then you can slap the label "Patent Pending" on your project before anyone can steal your idea, and you get to sell it to the food companies.

Learn more about this author, Ernest Capraro.
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