The Trouble With Oxygen

Modern techniques have greatly advanced the art of storing food, dramatically lengthening the shelf life of almost everything we eat.

A short history of food preservation

When my grandmother did her “canning,” she used glass bottles. That always struck me as odd and illogical. Wouldn’t “bottling,” or more precisely “glassing,” be the more accurate term?

Here’s what she explained to me when I posed that question.

Until the 1790s, when Nicolas Appert, a French confectioner, first put food in a bottle, heated it and sealed it with a cork, there was little food preservation as we know it. The French government almost immediately recognized the value in his process. The army and navy began using his method to preserve food for feeding its soldiers and mariners.

In that case, it had rightly been called “bottling.”

Before that, meat could be jerked or packed in salt to preserve it, other items could be air or sun dried and grains would last a considerable time when stored in a dry, cool place. And there were a handful of other marginal techniques. But other than that, most food had to be consumed soon after harvesting or it would spoil.

Modern food preservation really got rolling in about 1806 when Peter Durand, an Englishman, sealed food in tin cans. Food processing and preservation had come of age.

From that process the term “canning” emerged and caught on, even when glass containers were used.

While my grandmother’s explanation was enlightening, it was far from satisfying. I still thought it should be called “glassing.” That would be the rhetorical equivalent of “canning,” since both refer to the composition of  the containers in use. Since she was using what looked like jars to me, I considered “jarring,” but rejected it because of its obvious dual meaning.

But I digress . . .

You see, it’s bacteria that make food spoil. The little beasties, who are everywhere, live to consume food they land on. But their one weakness is oxygen. They need it to breathe, to survive, just like their giant cousins—humans. If you deprive them of oxygen, they die . . . quickly.

So cooking food and then sealing it did the trick . . . sort of. That is, it preserved food a bit longer, but not a whole lot. But the reasons why it worked weren’t really understood—not until Pasteur discovered that cooking destroyed the bacteria. The process named after him, pasteurization, involves simply cooking the milk to destroy harmful bacteria. That’s what my grandmother did when she was canning . . . er, glassing.

Modern food preservation techniques

Fast forward to the present, and we find that technology has vastly improved food preservation.

The first process is called freeze drying, a method of dehydrating food without destroying its structure. Foodstuffs are quick frozen at far below subzero temperatures and then warmed in a vacuum so that the ice formed upon freezing within the food sublimes or goes directly from ice to vapor and is easily drawn off. Once most of the moisture is removed in that manner, the foodstuffs no longer need refrigeration, as long as they remain isolated from heat and moisture. By simply adding water, the food reconstitutes and is ready for use with nearly all of its original size, nutrients, texture and flavor.

You can freeze dry ice cream with this process, it’s so good. That’s something you couldn’t do with ordinary dehydration techniques.

The second process is simple dehydration, much as it has been done since time immemorial, except that technology has improved the process dramatically. We can control the drying process with greater precision, allowing better results. Modern dehydration has greatly extended the shelf life of most foodstuffs, with a negligible loss of nutrients and minimal shrinkage.

Of course, Augason Farms uses both of these methods to preserve food for your use.

It’s in the bag

But the real advancement came in packaging dehydrated or freeze dried food. And as with canning, it is done by eliminating oxygen. That’s the secret: no oxygen, no bacteria beasties; no bacteria beasties, no spoiling. And without oxygen, light and heat, oils in foods stay fresh far longer. As a result, the food lasts much, much longer—an astonishing 10, 20 or 30 years in most instances.

By replacing any oxygen in the package with another, inert gas, such as nitrogen, or by adding a gadget that safely absorbs any residual oxygen, the few remaining bacteria left simply die.

Nitrogen is really very safe. We breathe it all the time, since it comprises most (78% to be exact) of our air. What could be less harmful than that? So, it’s an ideal gas to use for displacing oxygen in food packaging.

The process of displacing the oxygen with nitrogen is called “nitrogen flushing.” Then the bag, pouch, pail, bottle or tin is hermetically sealed to lock out any contamination, oxygen or moisture.

You may have noticed that bag of chips you bought recently is inflated or filled with air. Well, it’s not air; it’s nitrogen. Flushing those yummy chips with nitrogen before sealing the bag gives them that balloon feel. It preserves them, fresh and tasty, until you open the bag.

Naturally, Augason Farms uses these advanced, innocuous techniques to ensure that our products last long, taste good and are easy to use. This has allowed us to take food storage to the next level.

While we use the nitrogen flushing process wherever possible, we also use the alternative oxygen absorber. It’s usually a tiny packet that is discarded after opening the package: You wouldn’t want to have it turn up in your food. Its purpose is the same as the nitrogen flush: remove the oxygen to extend the shelf life of the contents. Of course, all this depends upon an efficient and secure seal.

Grandma would be impressed with today’s preserving and packaging techniques. She’d also be impressed with the care and concern demonstrated by Augason Farms. She’d love it!

Family owned and operated since 1972, we at Augason Farms believe that great taste is a tradition worth preserving. Crafted with a focus on taste and health, our products are manufactured to the highest standards. Let us provide you with delicious peace of mind.

By Anthony E. Larson
Augason Farms Copywriter

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