The Shelf-Life of Food – A Manufacturer’s

Perspective

Joe Dunne

Kerry Foods

• Key Challenges:

– Durability indication

– Shelf life of Ready To Eat products

– Product Classification

Our Business

Ingredients & Flavours Consumer Foods Agribusiness

Americas Region Ireland Ireland

EMEA Region The UK

Asia-Pacific Region

Leading Ingredients and Flavours Companies

» Kerry is the largest player in the

ingredients and flavours market

» Highly fragmented, but growing

market ($50bn)

» Benefits to being a scale player

» Consolidation potential

•Revenue $m

•Most recently published results

Leading Player in Food & Beverage and the Leader in Added Value Fridge Food

•Source: OC&C, Nielsen, Kantar, Co. Reports, Kerry estimates

• Key Challenges:

– Durability indication

– Shelf life of Ready To Eat products

– Product Classification

Legislation + Shelf-Life

EU Directive 2000/13/EC

- Article 3 – the date of minimum durability or, in the case of foodstuffs which, from the

microbiological point of view, are highly perishable, the ‘use by’ date

- Article 10 - In the case of foodstuffs which, from the microbiological point of view, are

highly perishable and are therefore likely after a short period to constitute an

immediate danger to human health, the date of minimum durability shall be replaced

by the ‘use by’ date.

EU Regulation 178/2002/EC

- Article 14 - Food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe.

EU Regulation on Microbiological Criteria 2073/2005/EC

- Foodstuffs should not contain micro-organisms or their toxins or metabolites in

quantities that present an unacceptable risk for human health.

Types of durability indication

• ‘Best Before’ dates…..relate to food quality, including taste, texture, aroma and appearance. It indicates the period for which a food can reasonably be expected to retain its optimal condition [e.g it will not be stale] and so relates to the quality of the food.

whilst

• ‘Use by’….. is the required form of date mark for those products which are highly perishable from a microbiological point of view and which are in consequence likely after a relatively short period to present a risk of food poisoning, and so relate to the safety of the food. Use-by is typically related to RTE foods.

Sell By/Display Until Dates

‘Sell by / Display Until’

- Aim to help shop staff with stock control / stock rotation.

- They have no legal basis.

- They are not aimed at consumers to indicate when to eat the food.

- Used for commercial purposes only.

Research WRAP [UK]…some consumers do not understand the difference between the legally required date marks and those used for stock control purposes.

This can mean that food which is safe to eat is thrown away unnecessarily, while food which maybe unsafe is consumed.

UK Government Advice [Sept 2011]…As best practice….Food businesses should explore alternative ways of applying stock control dates that make them less visible to consumers and avoid diluting the key messages of the legally required date marks.

Practice of applying ‘display Until’ dates also used in Ireland.

Note: Shelf life to determine use by should go beyond target shelf life so as to establish margin of safety.

• Key Challenges:

– Durability indication

– Shelf life of Ready To Eat products

– Product Classification

Shelf-Life protocol – Flow Diagram Example

Product launch process = a full shelf life assessment.The protocol for testing requires that the worst case process parameters have been applied.

Post launch EOL testing at a minimum of twice per year.

The frequency of micro testing.

1-4 days shelf life daily, 5-14 days every two days, >14 days weekly with 2 tests in final week

Samples are transported to lab & stored in fridgeSet at <5 ºC from day of manufacture until the expected day of life. Temperature abuse is carried out 2 days prior to end of life.

Samples are tested periodically over shelf life

For the following: TVC, Entero, E-coli, Staph aureus. Samples may need to be tested for other organisms depending on the

product type i.e. yeast/mould on sausages.

Temperature abuse

Two days prior to end of shelf life sufficient samples are transferred to a fridge set at 8-10 ºC in order to reflect customer storage.

Temperatures at which products are stored are maintained by continuous monitoring.

Pathogen analysisCompleted at the beginning and end of shelf life. Pathogen tests carried out should be appropriate for type of product e.g. poultry

products tested for Campylobacter as well as Salmonella and Listeria. All cooked product must be tested for Listeria and

Clostridia at start and end shelf life.

Further sample analysis Full nutritional (x3): this includes testing for pH and Aw

Organoleptic assessment: samples tasted throughout life

Light trial and sensory evaluation of the product at end of life.

Shelf Life of RTE Products (LM)

• Regulation 2073/2004 sets limits of 100cfu/g for Listeria Monocytogenes in ready to eat product during their shelf life.

• It is up to the Food Business Operator to demonstrate to the Competent Authority that their products will not exceed this limit throughout the shelf life.

How to Comply?

1. RTE Manufacturing pre-requisites‘ – i.e. GMP & HACCP

2. Establishing shelf life– Product characteristics and scientific literature and research data (if the results of

these studies do not give sufficient confidence, additional studies will be required)

– Predictive microbiology (modelling)

– Historical data

– Specific laboratory shelf life studies • Durability Studies

• Challenge Tests

• Shelf Life Evaluation

– Collaboration between food businesses

3. Practical application of shelf life – New start-up (new food production facility)

– New product (produced in an existing facility with gmp & ghp)

4. Checklist for buying RTE ingredients

• Key Challenges:

– Durability indication

– Shelf life of Ready To Eat products

– Product Classification

Product Classification

• Application of; Commission Regulation EC No. 2073/2005 on

Microbiological Criteria for Foodstuffs.

– Article 21 of Reg 2073/2005 specifies that; ‘the (Food Business Operator) .. has to decide

whether the product is ready to be consumed as such, without the need to cook or otherwise

process it in order to ensure its safety and compliance with the microbiological criteria’.

– Reg 2073/2005 defines ‘ready-to-eat food’ as: ‘Food intended by the producer or the

manufacturer for direct human consumption without the need for cooking or other processing

effective to eliminate or reduce to an acceptable level micro-organisms of concern’.

Product Classification

• Ready to Eat:– Chapter 1. Food Safety Criteria, point 1.2 Ready to eat foods able to support the growth of L

monocytogenes other than those intended for infants and ready to eat foods for special medical purposes. Details limits for Listeria Monocytogenes as follows:

• 100cfu/g (5), applies for products placed on the market during their shelf life.

• Absence in 25g (7), applies before the food has left the immediate control of the FBO, who has produced it.

– Chapter 1. Food Safety Criteria, point 1.3 details limits for Listeria Monocytogenes in ready-

to-eat foods unable to support the growth of L. monocytogenes, other than those intended

for infants and for special medical purposes (4) (8).

• 100cfu/g, applies for products placed on the market during their shelf life.

• Classify your products in Food Safety SOP with ref to 2073 (178/2002 &

BRC V6). See also recommendations in VPN 4/2011 (March 2011).

•Footnotes to chapter 1:•…(5) This criterion applies if the manufacturer is able to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the competent authority, that the product will not exceed the limit 100 cfu/g throughout the shelf life. The operator may fix intermediate limits during the process that should be low enough to guarantee that the limit of 100 cfu/g is not exceeded at the end of the shelf life.

•…(7) This criterion applies to products before they have left the immediate control of the producing food business operator, when he is not able to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the competent authority, that the product will not exceed the limit of 100 cfu/g throughout the shelf life.

•…(8) Products with pH ≤ 4,4 or aw ≤ 0,92, products with pH ≤ 5,0 and aw ≤ 0,94, products with a shelf-life of less than five days shall be automatically considered to belong to this category. Other categories of products can also belong to this category, subject to scientific justification.

Summary

• Durability Indication

– Consumer education

– Consumer behaviour, consider in RA

• Shelf life of Ready To Eat products

– Will your products support LM

– Classify & document in Food Safety SOP