New oxygen test for longer shelf life

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 US and will be available for purchase worldwide within the month. PBI-Dansensor will be the first company to market such a product, the group claims.

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​.”