Finding out the shelf life of your food product is an important part of getting it ready for market. We provide testing that determines expiration dates, best-by dates, and sell-by dates for a variety of food products. Food samples are conditioned and stored in specific temperatures and humidity conditions, then quality changes are analyzed and evaluated through quality and microbial safety analyses. Expiration dates are determined by food safety and quality criteria.
Sample Conditioning and Storage
We offer both Standard and Accelerated Shelf Life studies. We provide temperature and humidity chambers for sample conditioning and storage. Our conditioning chambers have a temperature range of -35°-200°C and can be programmed to change temperature and humidity set points to match your product’s lifecycle. We work closely with clients to design a personalized study and then carry out sampling, quality and microbial analyses. The conditioning chambers are also available for use outside of full Shelf Life Studies. This includes but is not limited to conditioning products according to temperature fluctuations in your shipping stream, aging products for your internal quality analysis, or aging products to use with other departments at the FIC (Sensory, Food Safety, and Product Develoment)
Standard Shelf Life Study
In a Standard Shelf Life Study the product is conditioned and stored at a similar storage temperature and humidity as the distribution environment. Changes in the product are evaluated at a specific sampling duration.
Accelerated Shelf Life Study
In an Accelerated Shelf Life Study the food product is conditioned and stored at elevated temperature and/or humidity. Quality changes in the product are evaluated at a specific sampling rate. The accelerated shelf life study can be two to four times faster than the standard shelf life study. We currently have four accelerated shelf life conditioning chambers of varying sizes and temperature ranges to suit our client’s needs.
We're able to carry out full or partial shelf life studies, including experiment design, sampling, quality analysis, microbial analysis, sensory evaluation, data analysis, and study reports.
Costs
Project costs vary, depending on scope of work. Submit this contact form to get more information about costs.
