How to test the leak integrity of Ready to Consume Food Packets?

In today's era, people are more dependent on instant food stuff, such as chips, biscuits, namkeen, ready to eat food products such as instant milk, instant coffee as so on. To fulfill the increasing demand of consumers for ready to eat products, manufacturers of food industries are constantly working on manufacturing high-quality, food-grade and long-lasting products with increasing validity. The validity of the product can be increased only by adding preservatives.

On the other hand, to maintain the quality of the food products for a long period of time, it is important to maintain the packaging of the products. Packing pouches are utilized for packing ready to eat food products that need to be of high-quality. One of the best ways to measure the quality of these sachets and pouches is checking its leak-integrity. Continuing the discussion, in this blog we will talk about measuring the leak integrity of the packages and how we can check that. Let’s have a closer look.

Ready to eat food items are used in multiple ways. But to enhance the quality of the product it is always measured that it would remain dry for a long time and the moisture content will not enter the packet. If the package absorbs moisture, it will deform the quality of the food which is packed inside and vice versa. This happens mostly in case of ready to eat powdered products such as milk, coffee, chocolate powder, etc. If the seal of the packet remains open, the moisture content enters the packet which makes the powder lumpy.

Also, this moisture can lead to multiple changes in the food content such as enzymatic reaction, structural deformation, oxidation, browning, etc. This all happens and varies depending on the presence of the amount of moisture content in the packet and the temperature as well. This can be measured and protected by measuring the leak integrity of the packets.

The best way to test the leak integrity of the packets is using Vacuum Leak tester for packaging.

Vacuum Leakage Tester

It is one of the widely used testing machines in packaging industries that helps to inspect the quality of the packaging pouches when they are placed under vacuum conditions.

The testing machine offers highly precise test results and as it is designed keeping in mind the national and international test standards such as ASTM D4991 / D3078. The testing equipment is used to check any kind of leakage, pinhole, or any tunnel defects in the packages.

The test is performed under two test conditions:

• Solid Filled / Air Filled packages - By submerging in water.
• Liquid Product Filled packages - In dry condition (without water).

How to perform the vacuum leak test?

You can perform the test in 2 simple steps:
1. Place the sample in a definite amount of vacuum.
2. Make sure which type of test you are performing.
3. Set the pressure, inlet vacuum pressure setting and preset time.
4. You will get the desired results on the digital display.

Let’s now discuss a few important features of vacuum leak testers.

Few key features:

• It is equipped with microprocessor that ensures precise results
• It complies with USP 28 Packaging Practice specification
• It is equipped with pressure setting knob to set inlet pressure and set predefined time using the timer function to set timing
• The machine comes with inbuilt calibration facility

For more information on Vacuum Leak Detectors, kindly contact Pacorr.