Storage

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What Makes Sam Andy Foods look and taste so fresh?

Unlike the "dried" raisins, prunes and other foods you may buy in stores, Sam Andy low moisture foods are sealed inside heavy duty, specially lined cans in which the air has been replaced with a special nitrogen-rich atmosphere that helps preserve flavor and color far longer than ordinary packing cans.

Packaging

The basic packaging materials available today include metal, glass, films (plastic and metal foils), cellulosic materials (paper, cardboard, etc.), and cloth. Of these, glass is the least reactive with the food. However, it is readily subject to breakage and sunlight damage. The metal caps used with glass are subject to corrosion; and glass is relatively heavy. The films are subject to puncturing, insect and rodent damage, and plastic alone is water permeable. Cellulosic and cloth packaging are subject to almost all of the external storage problems as well as limiting drastically the kinds of foods that can be contained. 9-38

We selected the #10 can (.83 gallon) as the most economical size in relationship to how much it would hold and how convenient it would be to use. It is the largest commercially manufactured can that can be sealed with automatic equipment . 3-11

By far metal cans are the most effective packaging material. Plated with tin, metal is the most common and economically, feasible container available.

The technogenic cans used in Sam Andy's food banking system are plated and enameled inside and out (and side-striped) to precise specifications. Six cans are contained in a uniform, end-labeled carton.

The internal atmosphere of the can is important in stabilizing the food product for long life. Using low moisture foods eliminates or minimizes the major deteriorative changes except oxidation. To solve the problem of oxidation, we developed a Stabilized Storage Atmosphere (SSA). This atmosphere consists of a mixture of relatively inert gases: one heavier than air; another lighter than air; and for some of the products a fumigant to deter insect activity. This Stabilized Storage Atmosphere is introduced as the food is packed in order to ensure that the maximum freshness, nutrients, and distinctive flavor of the low moisture foods will be maintained.

All packaging of foods which go into the regular trade channels comes under city, county, state and federal inspections. Labeling must be done in accordance with state and federal codes. All labels and contents of cans are subject to checking for accuracy or contamination by the Federal Food and Drug Administration . 23-661

Each Sam Andy food product label provides information about the dry to rehydrated yield per cup and per can, plus directions for rehydrating, and a suggested recipe. Each label also lists the ingredients and any food stabilizing materials used in the packaging process.

Storage

Several environmental conditions have a marked influence on the storage life of packaged low moisture foods.

Temperature and humidity present the greatest difficulties, while insect and rodent problems are among the most expensive. Corrosive atmospheric pollutants are a real problem in highly industrialized areas or near the ocean. Pilferage and vandalism are sometimes a factor, particularly in congested cities. An ideal situation would provide a refrigerated, controlled storage environment. Because this is not economically feasible for each family, Sam Andy designed the packaging and Stabilized Storage Atmosphere to minimize these negative environmental factors.

Temperature is always a critical factor. Foods should never be left exposed to high temperatures. Storage at room temperature or below will maximize the shelf-life.

The uniform size of Sam Andy's cartons makes stacking easy and neat. The end labels on each carton provide a unit number, carton number, the food group, the number of cans of each kind, the food item number, and the name of the food commodity. These labels are color-coded by food groups and are easy to identify and inventory.

If the relative humidity is below the critical range of 60-70% the exterior of cans will last much longer, unless unusual factors are involved. If the level is higher or the atmosphere is corrosive the master carton will provide some protection; however, the cans could be given a coat of lacquer and returned to the master carton as a precautionary measure. The packaging and atmosphere of the food bank precludes insect and rodent problems.

You can easily compute the weight and space requirements for storing or shipping your food bank by multiplying the number of food cases by 5-1/2 lbs. (the weight of the carton and empty cans) and adding this to the total net weight.

Storage-Life

One is to rotate the food carefully and methodically at all times, staying well within the known limits of flavor and palatability. Elaborate physical devices, rotation techniques (charts, diagrams, etc.) and rotating schemes to work storage items into the regular diet have been devised. However, because these methods involve so much record keeping, so much storage space, and are so time consuming, few use them for a complete year's supply or use them well enough to prevent a great deal of spoilage and waste.

The alternative is to select extremely stable foods-like those in Sam Andy's Unit System-package them properly, store them in the best location available and replace them as they are worked into your normal eating program.

Selecting criteria for defining the end of a food's "storage-life" is a difficult task. We must consider the obvious damage to food by bacteria, insects, or broken packages as well as the much less tangible factors of flavor, feel, or appearance. Quality and palatability deterioration may not imply any health hazard, but a significant loss or change in flavor, appearance, or feel of the foods will determine whether or not the products will be eaten readily. Finding foods that satisfy most tastes is not easy even when the foods are fresh. To determine the point at which the quality is no longer acceptable is next to impossible.

There is a wide variation in the deterioration rates of food. Raw material, processing, packaging, storage conditions, etc., create many variables that are not easy to assess. No feasible quality or palatability tests are available; so personal likes and dislikes play a very important role. Many people are remarkably insensitive to off-flavors and odors and without means of direct comparison much flavor deterioration could occur before it was noticed.

For a quality test to be useful, the point at which a food would be considered unacceptable would have to be carefully stated in terms of more than likes and dislikes. However, because the basic changes are in color, flavor or odor, it is still a subjective test even when the comparisons are made by a test panel.

Checking the quality of foods during the stand-by period is a necessary part of a storage program. Most of the flavor and palatability decisions made for comparison purposes are done by a test panel. A decision by a group tends to provide a better basis for quality and palatability checks. This direct method is supplemented by using the food product in a recipe, checking for quality in baking, as well as the flavor, appearance, etc., afterward. Modern technology and innovations in food drying and packaging have provided a wide variety of stable food products whose shelf-life has not been established.

Manufacturers' records and data from other sources give us clues to food stability reaching back for several years. Even some of today's new food products have verified storage lives of 18 months without refrigeration or special atmosphere. However, so many variables affect the basic product (such as packaging, storage conditions, etc.) that the product "will remain stable, only if conditions are right." 9-37

At Sam Andy we make periodic checks to determine flavor or quality deterioration. After a product is checked we place it in a new can, again add the Stabilized Storage Atmosphere, and leave it at room temperature until the next check.

After a can of Sam Andy food has been opened, the food will remain stable for reasonable lengths of time (three months to 18 months and longer) if the can is kept covered and free from contamination or insect infestation.

We continue these surveillance checks routinely to provide new insights into the storage stability of all the food products used in our family food banking program.