Snus Tips
Swedish
snus is moist to semi-moist and made of ground tobacco, water,
salt and additives. The shelf life of Swedish
Snus depends on its ingredients, in particular
on water content. If the snus is kept longer time in a shelf, the moisture
level in snus will decrease and quality will deteriorate. Therefore, moist
snus has a limited shelf life and should not keep in room temperature
for more than a couple of weeks. Dry portion packs, however, do not have
this limitation.
General Recommendation
The
general recommendation of the snus manufacturer is to keep moist Snus
in refrigerator. This enables the Snus will then be very stable and can
be kept for several weeks. It will also minimize the formation of nitrosamines.
Snus
can also frozen, which is good for you, living out side of Sweden, if
you want to keep snus for more than a month. You can it as frozen for
at least a year. To avoid frozen Snus from drying out you should freeze
it in a freezing bag. Thawing of Snus in cardboard cans should be done
in a refrigerator, thus eliminating the condensation water to dissolve
the glue in the can. Plastic cans are not sensitive to external moisture.
Storage changes
Changes
that might occur when Snus is stored for some time include
changes that are typical for many foodstuffs.
- Drying out, i.e. evaporation of water.
- Flavour changes due to ageing phenomena.
- Growth of micro-organisms such as bacteria or mould.
Drying
affects all products with high water content and is prevented with a water
tight package. Snus has fairly high water content, normally
between 50 - 60 %. Thus, a minor loss of water does not affect the consistency
very much. In Sweden, loose Snus is packed in paraffin coated cardboard
can, which under normal distribution conditions is good enough to keep
the moisture. Moist pouch products are more sensitive to drying and are
therefore packed in the tighter plastic cans.
Preseved Snus in Refrigerator
Both
loose and portion snus must be preseved in refrigerator, otherwise
flavour changes result in deterioration of taste and aroma characteristics
of the product. The Snus might get a stale aroma and taste. These changes
are caused by reactions with oxygen from the air, reactions which are
very dependent on temperature. We recommend always keeping Swedish
Snus refrigerated for any longer periods.
Shelf
life problems due to growth of micro-organisms are rare. The pasteurisation
process during manufacturing normally denatures the natural micro flora
originating from the tobacco. However, as with pasteurised milk, the pasteurisation
process will not render the Snus completely
sterile. Under warm storing conditions there remains a small risk of bacteria
growth. We have, however, never found any pathogenic bacteria in Snus. Follow these snus tips to enjoy the aroma and taste even in very warm climate.
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