In the time of credit crunch a new customer is looking for a longer shelflife than we currently have.
Our product is a mixture of different ingredients mixed in mayonnaise historically we have limited our product life to 10 days unless it is pH control. There are no additional additives, or control factors e.g aW, or salt to help extend the life. Our customers is currently recieving products of up to to 18 days and yes they are very similar products.
Having looked around to see what else is on offer we have discovered other products on the market with at least 15 days. Is my business missing a trick?
We are a very small company and do not have the support of the a huge team of experts.
What testing can we do to support an extension of shelflife?
Appreciate all help
Hi
we recently had a similar request from a retailer. albeit we have a shelf life of 23 days, they wanted us to extent it to 26 days, so that they could guarentee 21 days into their stores.
i am making a product that is pH controlled.
what we did was an extended shelf life trial, and conducted this trial over 3 separate runs.
so, on day 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 we tested the product for our usual range of micro, plus listeria & salmonella.
We also coducted taste panel's to see if there was any deterioration in flavour profile.
and we also checked the chemical properties of the product.
we also ran these trials in duplicate with an external laboratory.
hope this helps
c x