5 replies to this topic

[cfreeman]

My company is going thru its first BRC assessment. I need to do an ongoing shelf life assessment program. 5.6.1.3 " The site shall ensure that a system of ongoing shelf-life assessment is in place.  This shall be based on risk and shall include sensory analysis and, as applicable, microbiological testing and relevant chemical factors such as ph and aw. Records and results from shelf-life tests shall verify the shelf-life period indicated on the product"  I would be thankful for all help

 

[Charles.C]

My company is going thru its first BRC assessment. I need to do an ongoing shelf life assessment program. 5.6.1.3 " The site shall ensure that a system of ongoing shelf-life assessment is in place.  This shall be based on risk and shall include sensory analysis and, as applicable, microbiological testing and relevant chemical factors such as ph and aw. Records and results from shelf-life tests shall verify the shelf-life period indicated on the product"  I would be thankful for all help

 

Hi cfreeman,

 

Some info. on Product/Process would be nice. And necessary.

 

PS - Welcome to the Forum !

[cfreeman]

We process seafood frozen oysters , crab cakes, and soft crabs.

[Charles.C]

We process seafood frozen oysters , crab cakes, and soft crabs.

 Hi cfreeman,

 

By "Product/Process" i included aspects such as - Raw, RTE, retail pack, chilled, frozen ? vacuum pack ? Difficult to discuss specifics without such knowledge. As an example of the difficulty, can see this (very) short thread -

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...g-expiry-dates/

 

Regardless, generically the initial step IMO should be to answer the question  -

 

Is the shelf life to be based on safety or non-safety parameters ? eg pathogens such as  L.monocytogenes ? C.botulinum ?

 

If non-safety, the next question is - which factor determines the shelf life- eg taste, odour, texture ?

 

After these queries, one can do some testing.

 

The posts linked below contain a variety of useful attachments relating to shelf-life. Hopefully some may be applicable to yr product/requirements -

 

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...indpost&p=90133

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...ood/#entry59745

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...ant/#entry96746

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...indpost&p=93244

 

http://www.ifsqn.com...nes/#entry40513

[Charles.C]

addendum

 

Hi cfreeman,

 

Apologies - i missed the word "frozen" in yr post 3. It is unclear whether this applies to all the products mentioned or just oysters.

 

If all products are frozen, the shelf-life will probably be based on non-safety factors assuming the initial micro./chemical data is within specification. So 2nd part of my previous post will apply.

 

The classic procedure is to prepare a sample batch of the packed product under representative conditions and do appropriate testing across the labelled shelf-life of, say 2 units every X month(s) for the chosen quality parameter(s) where X may vary with the labelled shelf life and rate of change of parameter(s). The latter factor may be gauged in a preliminary test or by increasing the initial testing frequency. I have routinely used this basic methodology for frozen raw/cooked seafood  with shelf lives of 12-24 months.

IMEX the sensorial results are particularly sensitive to  factors such as size, raw/RTE, vacuum/MAP, intrinsic product texture/OLQ, glazing style, block/IQF, packaging style, absolute level and stability of storage temperature.

The technique of accelerated shelf life testing (ASLT) can reduce the overall time involved but requires more thought/interpretation (see the file in 3rd link of post 4). No direct experience.

As noted in one of the previous links, the micro.quality should minimally be checked against the specification at end of intended shelf-life. (and more frequently if risk-assessed, eg RTE).

[cfreeman]

Charles

Thank you and I will take a look at this