12/14/2023 0 Comments Shelf life calculationThis starts to give an indication of how long that food is likely to be viable to eat if it was infected with the microorganism at some point in the processing. Samples are taken at regular intervals to measure how much the microorganism has grown in the expected conditions for the food. This is generally a microorganism holding the potential to either degrade a product, or make a consumer sick. In microbial challenge testing, scientists add a pathogenic microorganism to a product. Understanding how food has been prepared and packaged helps researchers to decide what microorganisms it could come into contact with during its journey to the consumers’ home. It can still be safe to eat after this date, but it may have begun to lose its flavour or texture. ‘Best before’ on the other hand, indicates the maximum date to which food is expected to retain its best quality. It especially appears on highly perishable foods like meat and pre-packaged vegetables. ‘Use by’ indicates the date by which food is considered safe to eat. There is a subtle difference between a ‘use by date’ and a ‘best before date’. ‘Use by date’ and ‘Best Before date’ – What’s The Difference? Once researchers have calculated the estimated shelf life in accelerated testing, this will inform their decision of use by date. The next stage, known as accelerated testing, sees changes made to temperature, oxygen concentration and other key factors to see how much this causes the food to deteriorate. Samples are tested at regular intervals to see how the chemistry, microbiome, appearance, taste and smell of the food changes. They will even simulate the temperatures and rough handling the product could experience as it is transported. For these tests, products are stored in conditions similar to what they expect during storage, transport and in the consumer’s home. To measure the presence of potentially food spoiling microbes, food scientists analyse food samples under different conditions. Here we take a look at the science behind those all important best before dates and use by dates Studying Food Degradation As consumers, we expect food manufacturers to give us advice on how long food is safe to eat, and how to store it in the meantime. From the slopes of the lines, k values are calculated for all temperatures.Food expiration dates help us to plan meals and reduce food waste.The order of the reaction is identified.Appropriate graphs are drawn for the kinetic data.Concentration of reactants is determined (log (a-x).The reaction is conducted at several temperatures.The stress tests used in the current International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guideline (e.g., 40% for products to be stored at controlled room temperature) were developed from a model that assumes energy of activation of about 83 kJ per mole.Īccording to Arrhenius, for every 10☌ rise in temperature, the speed of reaction increases about 2-3 times. When the activation energy is known, the degradation rate at low temperatures may be projected from those observed at “stress” temperatures.Using Arrhenius equation, projection of stability from the degradation rates observed at high temperatures for some degradation processes can be determined. This equation describe the relationship between storage temperatures and degradation rate. R = the gas constant (1.987 calories degree^-1 mole^-1), K = the reaction rate constant of any order,
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