Shelf life
Food shelf life is the amount of time that the food product remains acceptable to eat. Within the shelf life the product will remain safe and retain the desired sensory, chemical, physical and microbiological characteristics. Below is a collection of articles related to shelf life. To find out more about our shelf life services get in touch – support@campdenbri.co.uk.
Leveraging sensory insights throughout the product lifecycle
Explore the benefits of applying sensory analysis to produce robust sensory data and make more informed commercial decisions, as well as the risks of not inc...
FAQs: your shelf-life questions answered
In this Q&A, our experts detail the answers to the shelf-life questions that they are most frequently asked by clients.
Accelerated shelf-life testing of food and beverage products
Here we outline the services we offer in this area, signpost other useful tools, and unpack some of the key considerations and limitations for conducting acc...
Understanding and maximising the shelf-life of drinks
Understanding the quality deterioration that can occur to shelf stable beverages can help developers design their product and its production process to facil...
5 reasons to review product shelf-Life
Clearly shelf-life needs to be established as part of new product development, but there are plenty of other reasons why shelf-life must be reviewed – here w...
Setting shelf-life for ambient food and beverage products
Exploring shelf-life limiting quality parameters and considerations for setting a ‘best before’ date for ambient goods
Maximising shelf-life: download our FREE eBook
Want to maximise the shelf-life of a product in development or extend the shelf-life of an existing product? Discover how from our latest eBook.
Predictive modelling to determine shelf-life – what can it tell us?
Predictive modelling is a tool used to assess the survival and/or growth of a microorganism under a range of temperatures, pH and water activities.
Modified atmosphere packaging - 'The carbon dioxide effect'
Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is used as a means of preservation and is well known in the food industry as a method to extend the shelf-life of a range...
‘Use by’, ‘best before’, ‘display until’ – what’s the difference and why does it matter?
We’re all aware of the various date marks that appear on food labels, such as ‘use by’, ‘best before’ and ‘display until’. But, let’s look at what they actua...
What will 2023 bring for the food and drink industry?
What food and drink industry trends and threats are you preparing for as we head into the coming year? How will you and your business navigate the challenges...
Replacement of shellac in food
Since January 2022, the Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom (UK) no longer permits the use of their trademark logo on new products containing the food a...
Things you need to consider when setting a shelf-life
Understanding shelf-life is essential in assuring the safety and quality of your food and drink products, and setting the correct shelf-life can be key to th...
Challenge testing of canned drinks - Are yours microbiologically stable?
With product formulation, processing technologies and transport exposing canned drinks to microbiological risks, understanding if a product is microbiologica...
Superchilled sustainability
Lesley Galpin, Head of Technical at Lyons Seafoods, shares her key learning around the implementation of superchilling, as a method to extend the shelf-life ...
Superchilling has positive impacts on food preservation and energy consumption
With over 10 year’s experience of helping the industry to superchill their products, we are the food and drink sector’s preferred choice to support with exte...
Fish, seafood and its preservation: How can we extend shelf-lives?
Why are fish and seafood products so perishable? Here we explore that and how our new research project is attempting to increase the shelf-life of these prod...
Reducing food waste – what impact does ingredient age have on shelf-life?
Food manufacturers tolerate roughly 5% waste within their food processes under normal production, but often look for ways to reduce it.
Food delivery is on the rise – but is it always safe?
COVID-19 has obviously been devastating for almost every aspect of the food industry, but perhaps a calling for food delivery.
Can we assume consumers’ fridges are at a safe temperature?
Current UK Food Standards Agency guidance is that chilled foods should be stored at 5°C throughout life even though the legal maximum temperature for chill i...
Novel natural preservative systems for use in drinks, sauces and other high aw foods
This project will practically assess potential novel preservatives to understand efficacy and whether other processing steps are needed to ensure their effec...
New way of assessing shelf-life for chilled products
E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria – we’re all aware of the ‘buzzword’ bacteria, but we pay less attention to all the other countless species that naturally occur...
Microbiological shelf life testing – new approaches
This project aims to reconsider the methods and procedures used to define microbiological shelf life.
Are fridge temperature assumptions correct?
New research indicates that assumptions about fridge temperatures may not be accurate. Linda Everis, principal research officer at Campden BRI explains its i...
Extension of product shelf-life through superchilling
This recording looks at how a member-funded project has investigated a range of products showing strong potential for shelf-life extension during storage.
Improving food quality using advanced microbial profiling
How DNA profiling can reveal so much more about the microbiological quality of food.
Considerations for determining shelf-life
Assigning the correct shelf-life requires a great deal of thought. Obviously, if it is too long there is the potential for food spoilage or growth of food pa...
Understanding the safe shelf life of foods using advanced microbial profiling
This project will revaluate microbial specifications for a range of chilled products and analyse the effect that naturally occurring microflora has on the gr...
Microbiological shelf-life: how to set a safe shelf-life
In this whiteboard presentation, Linda Everis talks us through how to set a shelf-life and some ways of measuring microbiological shelf-life.
Enhanced shelf life evaluation using Advanced Microbial Profiling
This recording outlines the principles and applications of Advanced Microbial Profiling and how it can be used to determine a more meaningfu...
Advanced microbial profiling (AMP)
Greg Jones discusses the applications of AMP to the food and drink industry, such a factory hygiene, traceability, authenticity and shelf life. (Greg Jones)
Colour stability during shelf life
Lycored approached us to help with shelf life trials. We developed a method to compare ten different colour blends for manufactured surimi seafood sticks.
Blast chiller-freezer
Our Armfield blast chiller-freezer can blast chill, blast freeze or individually quick freeze products on a fluidised bed.
Extension of product shelf-life through super chilling
This session outlines member funded project work on investigating food products showing strong potential for shelf life extension through su...
Producing shelf-stable cocktails
The consumption of cocktails is on the rise, and drinks companies are keen to capitalise on the increase in demand. (Geoff Taylor)
Pasteurised chilled food shelf life
Linda Everis discusses the effects of spoilage organisms and heat processing on product shelf life.
Superchilling to improve quality and shelf-life
Members have voted for a new project on superchilling for improved product shelf-life and quality. (Greg Jones)
High pressure processing of Innocent vegetable juices
Innocent Drinks partnered with us for support in investigating how high pressure processing (HPP) could be applied to their vegetable juices to improve quali...
Challenge testing
A challenge test is the deliberate addition of specific microorganisms to monitor their growth in a product.
How to determine product microbiological shelf–life
In determining the shelf-life of a particular food, the first pre-requisite is to know what particular characteristic of the food is going to be the limiting...
Challenge testing
Food safety is a major concern for everyone involved in the food industry from producers to policy makers and retailers to consumers, and it is imperative th...
Determining the shelf-life of food products
Roy Betts, Head of Microbiology, explains predictive microbiology and challenge testing, and how the two complement each other in determining the ...