SHELF LIFE ESTIMATION

WHY??
 To determine shelf life of existing product
 To study the effect of specific factors or combination of
factors on product shelf life
 To determine shelf life of newly developed product
BASIC TERMS
 DIFFUSION FLUX (J): The amount passing through a plane
(surface) of unit area normal to the direction of flow during
unit time

Q= total amount of permeate which have passed through

area A during time t
Steady state diffusion equation for gas
through a polymer

 D= Diffusion coefficient
 Reflects the speed at which the permeant diffuses through the polymer
 Function of temperature and may be a function of concentration

 S= Solubility coefficint
 Reflects the amount of permeant in the polymer

 X= thickness of polymer
 Permeability coefficient (P): represents the ease with which
a gas permeates through a polymer when subjected to a
pressure gradient
Transmission Rate (TR)

 TR may be GTR, OTR, WVTR

Unit of Permeability coefficient (P)
 the SI system, the units of P are kg m m−2 s−1 Pa−1

 mL at STP represents the molar quantity of gas rather than a

true volume and is the quantity of gas that would take up 1
mL at STP as calculated via the ideal gas law.
 CO2 ??
Factors affecting the permeability
coefficients
 VARIABLES OF THE POLYMER
 Polar group in structure
 Molecular packing in the amorphous phase
 Orientation
 Crosslinking
 The amount of crystallinity
 FACTORS AFFECTING THE DIFFUSION AND
SOLUBILITY COEFFICIENTS
 Pressure
 Sorption
 Temperature
SHELF LIFE
 Time from production to unacceptability
 Includes
 Time on retailer shelf +
 Consumer shelf +
 Time in distribution chain and warehouses
DEFINITION
 The Institute of food Technologist (IFT) in US:
The period between the manufacturer and the retail purchase
of a food product, during which time the product is in state
of satisfactory quality in terms of nutritional value, taste,
texture and appearances
 The Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) in UK:
The period of time during which the food product will remain
safe ; be certain to retain desired sensory, chemical, physical,
microbiological and functional characteristics; and comply
with any label declaration of nutritional data when stord
under the recommended condition.
 Shelf life is the duration of that period between the packing
of a product and the end of consumer quality as determined
by the percentage of consumers who are displeased by the
product
Approaches for Shelf life estimation
 Literaure Study
 Turnover time
 Endpoint study
 ASLT
Two Side Approach
 Product Side

 Consumer Side
Critical Descriptors or Indices of Failure (IoFs)
 The quality attributes that will indicate that the food is no
longer acceptable to the consumer
 Eg, rancid flavour
 Loss of colour
 Reduction of carbonation
 Loss of cripness
CUTOFF POINT
 The endpoint of particular degradation
 Indicates the limit on an analytical sensory scale or
instrumental measurement beyond which acceptance by the
consumer is significantly decreased
Perishability
 Perishable food
 Semi perishable food
 Non perishable food
Shelf life equation

 me = equilibrium moisture content

 mi = initial moisture content
 mc = critical moisture content
 P0= vapour pressure of pure water at the storage temperature
 Ws= weight of dry solid enclosed
 θs = shelf life
 b= slope of the isotherm
Problem 1
 A breakfast cereal has a initial moisture content of 2.5 %. The
COP is the critical moisture content of 8 % due to loss of
crispness. The me at 25 0C is 11 % ; the slope of the line is
0.147 g H2O/g solid/unit aw. Calculate the shelf life of the
cereal if it is packed in a bag of 50 µm LDPE or 50 µm OPP.
The weight of the dry cereal in the package is 400 g and the
dimension of the bag are 20 cm x 30 cm. The packed product
is to be stored at 25 0C and 75% RH.
Given WVTR at 25 0C and 75% RH
for 50 µm LDPE = 8.0 g m-2 day-1
for 50 µm OPP= 1.35 g m-2 day-1
Saturated vapour pressure at 25 0C = 2.376 cm Hg
***
Problem 2
 The feasibility of packaging fine wine in an oriented PET
bottle with O2 permeabilities of 0.03 barrer (permeabilities
calculated in air at 25 0C and 50 % RH on one side and 100
% RH on the other) is to be investigated. If bottle has a
surface area of 720 cm2, a thickness of 0.046 cm and holds
1L of wine, calculate the shelf life of wine in the bottle,
assuming that the bottles are perfectly sealed with gas-
impermeable, screwcap closures. The COP of the wine is
when 5 ppm O2 has permeated through the bottle wall.
 Density of O2 = 1.43 X 10-3 g ml-1
Problem 3
 Orange juice was aseptically filled into hermetically sealed glass jar and laminated
cartoon held at 25 0C. The extent of browning (expressed as optical density OD)
measured over a period of weeks gave the following results:
Browning (OD at 420 nm)
Time (days) Cartoon jar
0 0.100 0.100
10 0.123 0.114
20 0.147 0.127
30 0.171 0.141
40 0.195 0.155

 Analyse the data to see if the browning reaction follows a zero order reaction and
calculate the shelf life of juice in the two containers if the juice is unacceptable when
browning exceeds 0.250 OD.
Problem 4
 Lemon juice at a concentration of 9 0 Brix is stored at 10 0C and
the concentration of ascorbic acid measured over a period of
weeks to give the following results
Time (weeks) Ascorbic acid (mg 100ml-1)
0 52.9
4 45.1
8 38.3
12 32.9
16 26.7

 Determine the rate constant for the loss of ascorbic acid assuming
that the reaction is first order and calculate the time for the
ascorbic acid concentration in the juice to reach 20 mg 100 ml-1
MICROBIAL SHELF LIFE

 µmax= maximum specific growth rate constant


 Problem 5
 Beef is to be packaged in plastic film and stored at chill
temperature. The initial level of contamination of the beef
immediately after packaging is 103 microorganism per cm2 and
the maximum permitted level of microorganism is 108. Assuming
that the microorganisms are solely Pseudomonas fluorescens, which
has generation or doubling time of 8.5 h and 19 h at 50C and -20C
respectively, calculate the time for which the beef can be stored
before the maximum permissible level of microorganism is
reached at both the storage temperature, assuming no lag time.
ASLT
 Quantify the effect of extrinsic factors
 Rate of deterioration reaction accelerated by subjecting food
to controlled enviornment
 Q value: A quotient indicating how much more
rapidly the reaction proceeds at temperature T2
than a lower temperature T1.
 If Q reflect change in rate for a 10 0C rise in
temperature , it is then called Q10
Effect of Q10 on shelf life
Shelf life (Weeks)
Temp (0C ) Q10 =2 Q10 =2.5 Q10 =3 Q10 =5
50 2 2 2 2
40 4 5 6 10
30 8 12.5 18 50
20 16 31.3 54 4.8 years

Typical Q10 values for foods are 1.1–4 for canned products, 1.5–10 for
dehydrated products and 3–40 for frozen products.
ASLT Procedure
 Determine the microbiological safety and quality parameters
 Select IoF and Cutoff Point
 Select the package to be used
 Select the extrinsic factors to be accelerated. Typical storage
condition are
Product Test Temperature(0C ) Control(0C )

Frozen -7,-11, -15 <-40

Chilled 5,10,15, 20 0
Dry and IMF 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 -18
Canned 25, 30, 35, 40 4
 From each test storage condition , estimate θs and
construct appropriate shelf life plots