Hermetic preservation, with or without modified atmosphere, is already used on a large scale in the food industry, and to a lesser extent in seed factories. This technique also offers numerous qualitative advantages for preserving seed quality at harvest.
Cereals are free from storage insect infestation at harvest. Legumes such as lupins, chickpeas and soybeans are not attacked by bruchids during cultivation, and arrive uninfested at harvest. These grains and seeds can be stored unchanged for long periods, provided that their moisture content and the temperature in the storage room remain below the safe storage thresholds. For batches that do not exceed the limits of the balance between relative humidity (RH max 70%) and water content (W.C.) specific to each plant species, packaging in hermetically sealed enclosures or sealable big-bags enables value-added batches (organic cereals, label legumes, premium qualities, baby-food ingredients, etc.) to be preserved free from microbiological alteration or parasitic infestation, without recourse to chemical treatments that generate persistent residues.