Instant noodles are a precooked and usually dried noodle block, sold with flavoring powder and/or seasoning oil, usually in a separate packet. In the early days, plastic composite package and aluminum plastic package are the main packaging forms for the instant noodle. Today cup noodles have become very popular because of its edible convenience especially for those consumers in traveling.

Since there is a large amount of oil and fat contained in the instant noodles, they are liable to be oxidized and get deteriorated if the oxygen barrier property of the packaging materials is insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary for the manufacturers of instant noodles to strengthen the test of oxygen barrier property of the packaging materials used in their products.

This article discusses the oxygen barrier property of aluminum composite package for instant noodles and provides a test method of oxygen barrier property of such packaging materials for your reference. The test specimens are aluminum composite bags for instant noodles provided by one brand manufacturer of instant noodles and the testing instrument is Labthink’s C130H Gas Permeability Tester, which adopts differential pressure method.

With differential pressure method, the sample is mounted in a gas transmission cell so as to form a sealed semi-barrier between two chambers. One chamber contains the test gas at a specific high pressure, and the other chamber, at a lower pressure, receives the oxygen. The oxygen will be detected by either a manometric sensor or a volumetric sensor.

Figure 1. Aluminum Composite Package for Instant Noodles

Figure 2.C130H Gas Permeability Tester

The tests can be performed according to the following procedures.

(1)   Cut three pieces of specimens with sample cutter. The diameter of the specimen should be Φ97 mm.

(2)   Clamp the three specimens into the test cells of the instrument.

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

(4)   Switch on the vacuum pump.

(5)   Click Start Test to start the tests. The test results will be calculated and displayed automatically.

By testing the oxygen barrier property, the manufacturer or users of the instant noodle cups can select proper packaging materials to ensure the quality of the instant noodles within shelf life.

For more details about C130H Gas Permeability Tester, 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.