EMSL Analytical, Inc. Shelf Life Testing

A Shelf Life Testing Services

A shelf life study should be conducted on new products.

Additionally, these studies should be done when there are any changes to a product formulation, processing operation, packaging or storage conditions.

7 Steps to Determine Shelf Life

Identify what may cause the food to spoil:

Product: Raw materials, formulation, water activity, pH, oxygen availability, preservatives

Process: Processing activities, packaging, storage conditions

Decide which tests to use:

Sensory: odor, appearance, flavor texture

Microbiological: spoilage and pathogenic organisms

Chemical: pH, free fatty acids, headspace analysis, etc.

Physical: product abuse storage and handling

Plan the shelf-life requirements:

What tests need to be done?

How long will the studies be run?

How many samples for each test?

How many samples for the entire study?

What are the storage conditions?

When will the study be run?

Run the Shelf Life study:

At time intervals established in step 3

Run the appropriate tests in step 2

Determine the shelf life:

Eventually a point is reached when the product no longer meets requirements for quality or safety, which is the shelf life.

Usually a pre determined point is established to end the study if quality and safety are not affected.

Establish working shelf life:

Working shelf life will be less than actual shelf life due to real world factors such as storage conditions and potential product abuse.

Once product is released to the market monitor shelf life:

Investigate any customer complaints or failures.

Evaluate samples from production and distribution to validate study results.

EMSL Analytical is a full service laboratory that can perform analysis on a variety of parameters for a product as well as coordinate studies with trained sensory analysts.

Analytical Tests Can Include:

- Aerobic Plate Count

- Yeast & Mold

- Coliform/E. coli

- Staphylococcus aureus

- Salmonella

- E. coli O157:H7

- Listeria and L. monocytogenes

- Aerobic and Anaerobic Spore Formers – Mesophilic

- Aerobic and Anaerobic Spore Formers – Thermophilic

- pH

- Color

- Nutritional Analysis: Vitamins, Minerals, Fatty Acids and More

- Packaging evaluation

- Headspace analysis

- Rancidity

- Customized analysis panels

Sensory Analysis Can Include:

- Taste tests

- Odor evaluation

- Appearance evaluation

- Texture

- Product Separation