Looking to establish a Best Before Date (BBD)? Or wanting to assess whether a processing step alters your shelf life? In consideration of your particular formula, process, and package, the GFIC designs custom shelf-life studies that give insight into your product performance over time.

Types of Testing

Basic shelf-life studies typically assess:

• Aerobic Plate Count

• Yeasts/Molds

• Acidity (pH)

• Water Activity (Aw)

• Organoleptic Defects
  

Additionally, product-specific microbes such as Salmonella, E. coli, and others may be tested. A shelf life study can also analyze how attributes like colour, stability, nutrients, bioactives, and taste degrade over time.

Duration

The duration of shelf life testing depends of the expected shelf life of the product. The GFIC recommends that companies conduct the test for slightly longer than the expected shelf life in order to understand the implications for consumers that continue using the product beyond the best before date. Although GFIC offers accelerated shelf life testing, the GFIC will not proceed with accelerated testing until real-time testing is established

Frequency

Tests are always conducted at the beginning (Day 0) and at the end of study duration. Generally, for shorter shelf life products (less than 3 months), testing occurs weekly, and montly for longer shelf life products. While the GFIC can arrange any frequency of testing, the longer the gap between tests, the more valuable information you may be missing about your product.

Use of products produced at your facility and with representative packaging is essential for shelf life testing.