New oxygen test for
longer shelf life
By Neil Merrett, 29-Oct-2008
Food Production Daily
Easier, safer and quicker food packaging will result from a
new oxygen measuring system, claims Swedish manufacturer PBI-Dansensor.
PermMate is a new measuring system
that analyses the volume of oxygen in all types of sealed packaging, Peter Franklen, the company’s development manager told
FoodProductionDaily.com.
Current sample tests take time and have a large margin of
uncertainty because the measurements are taken only in a small portion of the
package, said Franklen. “The new measuring system
streamlines and modernizes the way the volume of air in a package is analyzed. PerMate measures the whole package and reports more quickly
and more reliably than current sample test methods,” he added.
Bacteria Free
Oxygen tests within food packages are an important means of
ensuring that products remain bacteria free when consumers collect them from
supermarket chillers. Testing the permeability of oxygen into the packaging
ensures products are labelled with the correct shelf
life.
“Permate allows (processing and
packaging) companies to optimize their work processes, cost prices and reduce
packaging waste,” said Franklen.
The system, consisting of a two measuring instruments and a
PC application, was developed in association with Swedish IT company
HiQ. The oxygen analyzer is called Checkmate 11 and
works with the PermMate device via PC software.
Field tests
Permate is now undergoing field
tests in Europe and the
Meanwhile, PBI-Dansenor and HiQ are working together to develop more quality assurance
measuring equipment. Under development is a sample kit designed to measure the
oxygen permeation of a wide range of packaging materials, said Franklen.
Commenting on his company’s partnership with HiQ, Franklen said: “We learnt a
lot from working with HiQ. Instead of developing
non-stop and not testing until long into the development process, we were able
to test the product along the way. So we were constantly making new discoveries
about the product that enabled us to qualify (modify) it further as we went
on.”
foodproductiondaily.com