Oxygen Absorbers 2                                                                                (21)

#3 –

What is the volume of the container and how much air volume remains after

 I’ve filled it with food?

This is important to know if you want to make the most efficient use of your

 absorbers and be certain your food is adequately protected.

Taking the question in two parts, here is how to determine the answer:

Absorber capacity is rated by the amount of oxygen in milliliters that each will

absorb so you’ll need to know what the volume of your container is in milliliters.

 The table below gives conversions between common U.S. container sizes

 and their milliliter equivalents.

Pint jar(16 fl oz)475 milliliters

Quart jar(32 fl oz)950 milliliters

Half-gallon jar(64 fl oz)1,900 milliliter

s#10 can(112 fl oz)3,300 milliliters

One gallon jar (128 fl oz)3,800 milliliters

 Five gallon pail(640 fl oz)19,000 milliliters

 Six gallon pail(768 fl oz)22,800 milliliters

 Fifty-five gallon drum(7,040 fl oz)208,175 milliliters

MOISTURE IN PACKAGINGAND FOOD STORAGE

WHY MOISTURE IS IMPORTANT

Moisture in inappropriate amounts and places is damaging to food.

Because of this, much effort is put into reducing the water content of dry

 foods in order to prolong their shelf lives. Once it is reduced to the desired

 level the product can then be packaged for storage. Unfortunately, merely

reducing moisture content is not always sufficient. Environmental conditions

 can play a role as well.

1. -

The air trapped in the container with the food may have held sufficient

humidity to raise the moisture content of the food to undesirable levels.

2. -

Even if the water vapor content wasn’t too high, a falling temperature

 level may cause the trapped humidity to reach its dew point causing

water to be squeezed out of the air to condense on your food much

the same way as dew forms on your lawn on cool mornings after a warm,

 humid night. This can be a particular problem if the condensation is localized – say,

 only the portion of the food next to the walls of the container – resulting

 in excessive moisture in that local area even though the contents as a

whole would be at a satisfactorily low moisture level.

3. -

The seal of the container may not be sufficiently tight enough to prevent moisture

 laden air from leaking in.

4. -

The packaging material itself may be porous to water vapor to one degree or another.

 All paper, wood and cardboard has this fault. Depending upon their particular

 physical properties some plastics do as well. Metal and glass containers have

 excellent barrier properties though their seals may not.

INDEX           Next pdf Storage Time Limits          Page 25

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