Modified Atmosphere Packaging Patents: Leaders & Filing Trends 2026
- Concentrated but not locked up. The top 5 assignees hold 22.7% of all 1,102 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 36.5% — meaningful share, but well short of a closed field.
- Filing has cooled from its 2020 peak. Filings ran 44 in 2021 down to 7 in 2024, an 84% drop over that span; publication lag means 2025-2026 figures are still filling in.
- Packaging classes dominate, biocide-related claims are thin. B65D containers/packaging appears on 47.4% of records versus just 10.8% for A01N biocide/agrochemical classes — a gap between physical package design and active chemistry.
Filing growth compares 2021 (44 records) with 2024 (7) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,102 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) for fresh produce sits at the intersection of packaging engineering and postharvest physiology: films and package geometries are designed to establish an equilibrium atmosphere that slows respiration, manages condensation, and extends shelf life without additives. The 1,102 records in this dataset span 2015 to mid-2026 and were pulled using search terms tied to film permeability, respiration rate, equilibrium atmosphere, condensation control, anti-fog coatings and package headspace — the technical levers that actually differentiate one MAP claim from another.
Because a single film or package design can be filed across multiple jurisdictions and IPC classes, the class shares below sum to well over 100% of the record total; that overlap is expected and is read here as an indicator of where claim activity clusters, not as a mutually exclusive breakdown.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,102-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 28 in 2017 to a peak of 56 in 2020, then declined toward the most recent complete year; 2021's 44 filings fell to 7 by 2024, an 84% drop. 2025 and 2026 figures will revise upward as publication catches up with filing, so the apparent tail should not be read as the field going quiet.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
B65D (containers and packaging) leads at 47.4% of records, followed by A23B (food preservation) at 37.9% and A23L (foods and non-alcoholic beverages) at 30.0%. Structural and materials classes — B32B laminates at 17.3%, B65B packaging/wrapping at 16.9%, and the C08J/C08L polymer classes at 14.3% and 9.6% — trail the food-science classes, while A01N biocide/agrochemical claims sit lowest at 10.8%.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,102 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Modified Atmosphere Packaging for Fresh Produce with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about modified atmosphere packaging for fresh produce and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
System for determining modified atmosphere packaging conditions for fresh produce and the process thereof (WO2022075926A1)
The system specifies fresh produce data, package data and storage-environment data, sets a perforation pattern on the package surface, and processes these inputs through a produce database to determine packaging conditions — moving MAP design from trial-and-error toward a parameterised, software-assisted process.Filed by SCG Packaging Public Company Limited, published 2022-04-14.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5350622A | Multilayer structure for a package for scavenging oxygen | 301 |
| 2 | US5529833A | Multilayer structure for a package for scavenging oxygen | 205 |
| 3 | US5492705A | Vegetable containing storage bag and method for storing same | 188 |
| 4 | US6050412A | Method and apparatus for packaging and shipping horticultural products including cut flowers | 168 |
| 5 | US6013293A | Packing respiring biological materials with atmosphere control member | 153 |
| 6 | US4996062A | Glucose oxidase food treatment and storage method | 144 |
| 7 | US5575418A | Corrugated paperboard package systems with gas-permeable plastic membranes for modified atmosphere packaging … | 137 |
| 8 | US6376032B1 | Gas-permeable membrane | 126 |
| 9 | US4515266A | Modified atmosphere package and process | 121 |
| 10 | US5160768A | Curable silicone-coated microporous films for controlled atmosphere packaging | 99 |
Citation counts accumulate over time and favour older filings; treat them as a signal of technical influence within this corpus, not of current filing activity.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once filing counts, IPC composition and citation data are read together.
Leadership is real but not exclusionary
The leading assignee holds 59 records against a fifth-place count of 44 and a tenth-place count of 24 — a steep drop-off rather than a plateau. With the top 10 combined still under 37% of all records, there is a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants working around the leaders rather than a field closed off to new claims.
Activity has pulled back from its 2020 high
Filings peaked at 56 in 2020 and fell steadily to 7 by 2024, an 84% decline across that window. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures are undercounts rather than evidence the field has gone cold — but the multi-year pullback from peak is a genuine signal worth watching before committing new spend.
Package design is crowded, active chemistry is not
Nearly half of all records touch B65D container/packaging claims, and over a third touch A23B food-preservation claims. A01N biocide and agrochemical classes appear on only 10.8% of records, suggesting that active-substance approaches to shelf-life extension remain comparatively under-claimed next to physical package and film design.
Oxygen-scavenging structures anchor the citation graph
The two most-cited records in this dataset both describe multilayer oxygen-scavenging package structures, cited 301 and 205 times respectively. Heavy citation of older oxygen-scavenging art means any new film or laminate claim in that space is likely to run into dense prior art during examination.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to modified atmosphere packaging for fresh produce, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where the gaps sit
The ranked list covers 100 assignees across the full 1,102-record dataset. Filing is led by a handful of specialist packaging and materials firms, with co-assignee activity concentrated among a small number of repeat pairings.
A specialist packaging leader ahead of a steep drop-off
The top-ranked assignee holds 59 records against 44 at fifth place and 24 at tenth — concentration at the very top of the list that thins out quickly rather than a broad plateau of comparably sized filers.
Co-filing is limited to a few tight pairs
Only 10 co-assignee pairings appear in this dataset. The strongest pairing shares 18 filings, with the next strongest pairings well below that — collaboration here looks like a handful of deliberate partnerships rather than a broad ecosystem of joint development.
Named leaders show no recent-year filings in this cut
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum in this dataset shows zero filings in the latest year captured. Given the 18-month publication lag, this reads as a data-currency gap rather than firms exiting the space, but it means recent competitive positioning cannot be read from filing counts alone right now.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Cellresin Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| The University of British Columbia | 0 | — |
| Perfo Tec BV | 0 | — |
| Anglo Platinum Marketing | 0 | — |
| Landec | 0 | — |
| APIO INC | 0 | — |
| Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc | 0 | — |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
This landscape narrows down the field to filing patterns and claim density. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific claim sets.
Map claims against a specific film chemistry
Cross-reference the anti-fog coating and condensation-control clusters against a candidate film formulation to see which claim elements are already occupied.
Explore in EurekaTrack the leading assignees' active families
Follow the leading assignees' family status and jurisdictional coverage to see where continuation activity or new filings might still be pending publication.
Explore in EurekaAssess the oxygen-scavenging prior art directly
Read the highest-cited multilayer oxygen-scavenging structures in full before drafting new film or laminate claims in that space.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
It is moderately concentrated at the very top but not closed off. The leading assignee holds 59 of the 1,102 records in scope, and the top 5 assignees together hold 22.7% of all records; the top 10 hold 36.5%. That leaves nearly two-thirds of the field to a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants, so new entrants are not filing into a field owned by a handful of firms.
Filings peaked at 56 in 2020 and declined to 7 by 2024, an 84% drop across that three-year span, based on the most recent years that can be treated as complete. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 in any dataset are undercounts rather than proof the field has gone quiet, and should not be read as a continuing trend until later data fills in.
B65D (containers and packaging) is the most represented class, appearing on 47.4% of the 1,102 records, followed by A23B (food preservation) at 37.9% and A23L (foods and non-alcoholic beverages) at 30.0%. Materials-focused classes such as B32B laminates, C08J and C08L polymer classes appear less often, and A01N biocide/agrochemical claims are the least represented major class at 10.8% of records.
The clearest gap sits between physical package design, which is heavily claimed under B65D and B65B, and active chemistry approaches, which under A01N sit at only 10.8% of records. Sub-areas such as anti-fog coating chemistry, perforation-pattern optimisation and software-parameterised MAP design tools show comparatively lower filing density relative to the core packaging classes, suggesting room for narrowly drafted claims that combine active-substance approaches with specific package geometries.
WO2022075926A1, filed by SCG Packaging Public Company Limited and published 2022-04-14, describes a system for determining modified atmosphere packaging conditions by combining produce data, package data, storage-environment data and a perforation pattern through a processing unit and produce database. It matters because it moves MAP design from empirical trial-and-error toward a parameterised, software-assisted process, which is a distinct claim angle from the film-chemistry and structural patents that dominate this dataset.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.