Protein powder is one very common health care product, which has become more and more popular as a nutritional supplement. Protein powders come in various forms. The three common ones are whey, soy, and casein protein.

Since there is a large amount of protein contained in protein powder, it is quite liable to be oxidized if stored improperly. As a result, the nutrient of the protein powder may be lost or even get deteriorated. Considering the specific storing requirements, the package used for protein powder shall have sufficient oxygen barrier property.

The common packaging materials used for protein powder include aluminum plastic composite film, aluminized composite film and metal cans. It is necessary to test the oxygen barrier property of those packaging materials before use in order to guarantee the quality of protein powder within shelf life.

This article provides a simplified test method of the oxygen permeability of aluminum plastic composite film used for protein powder for your reference. The testing instrument used for the tests is Labthink’s OX2/230 Oxygen Transmission Rate Test System. This instrument uses a coulometric detector to determine the oxygen transmission rate. The specimen is mounted as a sealed semi-barrier between two chambers at ambient atmospheric pressure. One chamber is slowly purged by a stream of nitrogen at a given temperature and relative humidity and the other chamber is purged by a stream of oxygen at the same temperature as the nitrogen stream but may have a different relative humidity than the nitrogen stream. In this case the environment would more closely simulate actual shelf conditions. As oxygen gas permeates through the film into the nitrogen carrier gas, it is transported to the coulometric detector where it produces an electrical current, the magnitude of which is proportional to the amount of oxygen flowing into the detector per unit time.

Figure 1. Aluminum Plastic Composite Package for Protein Powder

(1)    Cut 3 pieces of specimens from the provided sample.

(2)    Mount the 3 specimens in the test cells respectively. Make sure there is no bubble between the specimen and the test chamber. Clamp the specimens tightly.

(3)    Set specimen name, test temperature, test humidity and other test parameters.

(4)    Click Test to start the test.

(5)    Turn on the gas supply. Adjust the humidity and carrier gas flow rate.

(6)    When the tests are finished, the instrument will calculate and display the test results automatically.

For more details about OX2/230 Oxygen Transmission Rate Test System, please visit www.labthink.com

About Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd:

Labthink Instruments Co., Ltd is one leading supplier of packaging testing instruments, which is headquartered in Jinan, China and operated in Boston, U.S.A.