Pasta and its 12% moisture content

Posted by PuddlesMcGee2@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 22 comments

Everything I find indicates pasta has a moisture level of 12%. Anything over 10% would rule out O2 absorbers. Yet every food storage and prepper site recommends oxygen absorbers for pasta. Even the Wallaby website puts it in the O2 absorber category, as opposed to the desiccant one. What am I missing? And, more importantly, do I need to remove all of the O2 absorbers from my many mylar‘d bags of pasta?

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smsff2@reddit

Can you verify the claim that foods with more than 10% water content are not suitable for oxygen absorbers? From a chemistry perspective, that doesn’t seem correct. Oxygen absorbers are essentially iron, which reacts with oxygen. Oxygen is dissolved in water in significant amounts. I would say that foods with around 10% moisture content require significantly more oxygen absorbers to work properly.

It is true that a standard amount of oxygen absorbers can be rendered ineffective by the oxygen dissolved in the moisture within the food. However, oxygen absorbers still function as intended and can still be beneficial.

We just need to use more oxygen absorbers.

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PuddlesMcGee2@reddit (OP)

When I google search oxygen absorbers + 10% + botulism I get so many hits. I’ll be selective. But I think I first learned it here! (I learned it by watching you, Dad, I learned it by watching you!)

https://wallabygoods.com/blogs/news/5-secrets-to-better-long-term-food-storage?_pos=3&_sid=3e086c6f2&_ss=r

https://trueprepper.com/oxygen-absorbers/

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/food-storage/longer-term-food-supply?lang=eng

https://www.oxygen-absorbers.com/blog/make-your-food-shelf-stable-by-combating-food-deterioration-using-oxygen-absorbers

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Espumma@reddit

You shouldn't google with terms that confirm your theory because there will always be pages that will confirm what you think (because there are a lot of grifters out there). Use neutral terms like 'oxygen absorber limits' or even adversarial terms like 'oxygen absorber botulism 5%' and see what comes up then.

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IntoTheCommonestAsh@reddit

How weird. Seems like a zombie fact that gets repeated without much thought. It's not like most people have a way to measure moisture content anyway, so really this advice isn't very actionable other than "get it as dry as you can".

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PuddlesMcGee2@reddit (OP)

It’s so weird! I am validated.

(Btw that’s what I’ll say as we’re checking the index of my copy of The Survival Medicine Handbook for botulism while becoming increasingly paralyzed as the world burns. Worth it though, because pasta!)

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PuddlesMcGee2@reddit (OP)

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NoMaintenance88@reddit

It's botchulism, not a risk I'm going to take.

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JRHLowdown3@reddit

Well said.

After opening dozens upon dozens of #10 cans of: Macaroni, spaghetti and egg noodles over the last few decades that were all put up with 02 absorbers I think the OPs concern is greatly over blown.

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SafetySmurf@reddit

Botulism is inactivated, becomes non-toxic, with a combination of cooking time and high temperature. If all the food has come to a boiling temperature for at least five minutes, the food has been decontaminated from botulism. So while it is still important to thoroughly dry food before storage and important to protect stored foods from moisture, items that will be thoroughly cooked to boiling temperatures, or cooked at lower than boiling temperatures for longer durations, will be rendered safe from botulism. That is why foods like dry pasta, dry beans, and rice are safely stored with O2 absorbers in sealed jars or mylar bags, even if their moisture content is a little higher than the ideal 10%.

https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-food-preserver-program-orange-county/botulism

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IGnuGnat@reddit

I remember reading a post where the poster explained that they were sitting at the cabin, when they realized that a Mason jar of dry pasta had been sitting on a shelf in the living room for over a half century; everyone agreed that the grandmother must have placed it there.

They boiled it up and ate it. No problem

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PuddlesMcGee2@reddit (OP)

I believe people are doing this and surviving. I just. I’m much too autistic to be able to process Wallaby saying “use O2 absorbs with pasta” on one page and then “only use O2 absorbers with food that contains less than 10% moisture or you’re going to die painfully.” I’m paraphrasing, but still.

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mediocre_remnants@reddit

Rice and dry beans also have a moisture content of around 12-14%.

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PuddlesMcGee2@reddit (OP)

Unsee! Unsee!

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th30be@reddit

Where did you get this information?

I am in an industry that uses a metric tone of desiccant every year and our products need to be under 15%. Its not food but it is something that can rot/go bad and using desiccants are the way to go.

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PuddlesMcGee2@reddit (OP)

It’s pretty much on every website about food preservation with oxygen absorbers. Here are a few:

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IntoTheCommonestAsh@reddit

You might have confused contexts, because basically all "dry" food is that moist. Dry flour, dry beans and dry rice all also have ~10-15%. There's only so much moisture that can actually evaporate without freeze drying; some moisture is chemically bound to the starch and won't easily evaporate. So 10% is just about as low as it gets for non-freeze-dried food.

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PuddlesMcGee2@reddit (OP)

I included links in response to the first comment. I don’t think I’ve ever read about oxygen absorbers without seeing the 10%/botulism warning!

Is this real life?

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There_Are_No_Gods@reddit

This claim seems to be the basis for your dilemma:

Anything over 10% would rule out O2 absorbers

What is your source for that claim? It seems to run contrary to most related information, and unless there is a solid source on that aspect, there's no actual issue in need of resolution.

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