Although they might not command attention, the little packets inside the packaging of some biltong products are in fact vital for the product. These little packets are called oxygen absorbers and they help biltong last longer on the shelf while controlling the growth of mold and bacteria in the packaging.
Oxygen absorbers provide customers with peace of mind that the quality of the biltong is important to the manufacturer who has chosen to invest in the use of oxygen absorbers within their packaging.
Leigh-Anne Stevenson from KubePac.com, market leader in oxygen absorber technology within South Africa, says “oxygen absorbers are used in packaging to prevent the growth of fungi and microorganisms which can make the biltong unfit to eat”. For manufacturers and consumers this means fresher biltong and a longer shelf life.
Ingvar Pederson, managing director of KubePac.com, warns that biltong should be packaged with an oxygen absorber, not a desiccant. People often get the two confused although they are very different. A desiccant sustains dryness within packaging while an oxygen absorber removes oxygen within packaging.
Oxygen causes oxidation which results in oils and fats becoming rancid, colour and nutritive changes, and staleness. When you remove the oxygen from a package you both eliminate the effects of oxidation and prevent growth of oxygen-dependent organisms like mold and insects. This is the principle behind vacuum-sealing and gas flushing as well, but these methods only reduce the exposure of a product to oxygen whereas an oxygen absorber will effectively eliminate all oxygen (<0.01 percent), leading to much longer and more effective preservation of your biltong.
Leigh-Anne explains that an oxygen absorber is like a sponge and you need one with enough capacity to absorb all the oxygen in your package. Essentially, oxygen absorbers are sachets of iron powder that “rusts” becoming iron oxide. They trap available oxygen from the environment which leaves an oxygen-free atmosphere inside the packaging. They are not “air absorbers” so although you may notice a decrease in the volume as the oxygen is absorbed, the rest of the air which is mostly nitrogen will remain.
Leigh-Anne says that “advanced packaging technologies can create environments where the oxygen level is less than 0.10 percent in a package but oxygen absorbers are able to get that level to below 0.01 percent. In this way, we drastically improve the ability to store biltong without any level of oxidation in the package”.
When choosing oxygen absorbers for biltong packaging manufacturers need to consider how large the bag is versus how much oxygen needs to be absorbed and therefore what size oxygen absorber should be used. Leigh-Anne emphasises that the package material of the oxygen absorber that KubePac sells is composed of a type of plastic film so it is completely safe for food.
If you are interested in purchasing oxygen absorbers to keep your biltong naturally fresh, Leigh-Anne will be able to assist you. You can email her on leigh@kubepac.com or alternatively you can visit the Kubepac website at www.kubepac.com.
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