2 replies to this topic

[aescroggins]

Hi,

 

I apologize if this is not the best place for this question.  My colleagues and I are trying to better understand supplier shelf lives for ingredients and how they relate to the shelf life of the final product.  At this time we are not capable of doing accelerated shelf life testing.  However, many of our products have been around for some time and we do have historical data that our shelf life on most of our products is justified. 

We have started to delve into some new ingredient categories that we don't have a lot of experience with.  One example is different dry cheese powders.  The ingredient spec sheet lists a shelf life of 6 months on it.  My coworker believes that this shelf life is only for the raw material and if we transform it in any way, be it ever so slightly, that it then has a new shelf life.  For instance, this cheese powder gets packaged into individual packets.  Internally we give those individual packets an 18 month shelf life.  The packets may then get dropped into final products with dry pasta and sold as a mac and cheese product.  This product is then given an additional 18 month shelf life.  This can mean that the initial ingredient might not be consumed by the customer until 3.5 + years after it was originally manufactured. 

What if we do not take the raw material and package it into individual packets for 2 or 3 years due to slower than expected sales?  I don't understand how we could be justified in then adding up to 3 more years onto the shelf life (18 months for packets, 18 months final product). 

If the supplier issued shelf life is meant to indicate that the ingredient should be consumed within 6 months of date of ingredient manufacture then we would never be able to comply with this even if immediately packaged it into packets and put in the final product- as final product has an 18 month shelf life. 

 

We have some other ingredient categories that might not remain stable like we have found the cheese powder to.  We have a number of new seasoning blends that are of a very fine particle size.  These seasoning blends get dispensed into a pouch and allowed to mingle with other ingredients in products which are given an 18 month shelf life.  The seasoning blends each have a 6 month shelf life on the spec sheets.  We have been having problems with the seasonings hardening over time and the supplier explained that they expect the blends to become sticky and hard as well as diminish in flavor and color after their issued shelf life.  We currently have a number of these ingredients which are reaching 12 months old in their raw (blended and packaged in 50 lb bags) form and we do not expect to package them in their final product for up to another 1-2 years.  Our boss will not consider throwing them away and would continue to use the same old seasonings even if we still had them 10 years from now.

At what point must we throw away the current ingredients and purchase new ones?  How do other companies handle this?

[QAGB]

Hi,

 

I apologize if this is not the best place for this question.  My colleagues and I are trying to better understand supplier shelf lives for ingredients and how they relate to the shelf life of the final product.  At this time we are not capable of doing accelerated shelf life testing.  However, many of our products have been around for some time and we do have historical data that our shelf life on most of our products is justified. 

We have started to delve into some new ingredient categories that we don't have a lot of experience with.  One example is different dry cheese powders.  The ingredient spec sheet lists a shelf life of 6 months on it.  My coworker believes that this shelf life is only for the raw material and if we transform it in any way, be it ever so slightly, that it then has a new shelf life.  For instance, this cheese powder gets packaged into individual packets.  Internally we give those individual packets an 18 month shelf life.  The packets may then get dropped into final products with dry pasta and sold as a mac and cheese product.  This product is then given an additional 18 month shelf life.  This can mean that the initial ingredient might not be consumed by the customer until 3.5 + years after it was originally manufactured. 

What if we do not take the raw material and package it into individual packets for 2 or 3 years due to slower than expected sales?  I don't understand how we could be justified in then adding up to 3 more years onto the shelf life (18 months for packets, 18 months final product). 

If the supplier issued shelf life is meant to indicate that the ingredient should be consumed within 6 months of date of ingredient manufacture then we would never be able to comply with this even if immediately packaged it into packets and put in the final product- as final product has an 18 month shelf life. 

 

We have some other ingredient categories that might not remain stable like we have found the cheese powder to.  We have a number of new seasoning blends that are of a very fine particle size.  These seasoning blends get dispensed into a pouch and allowed to mingle with other ingredients in products which are given an 18 month shelf life.  The seasoning blends each have a 6 month shelf life on the spec sheets.  We have been having problems with the seasonings hardening over time and the supplier explained that they expect the blends to become sticky and hard as well as diminish in flavor and color after their issued shelf life.  We currently have a number of these ingredients which are reaching 12 months old in their raw (blended and packaged in 50 lb bags) form and we do not expect to package them in their final product for up to another 1-2 years.  Our boss will not consider throwing them away and would continue to use the same old seasonings even if we still had them 10 years from now.

At what point must we throw away the current ingredients and purchase new ones?  How do other companies handle this?

 

Hi AEScroggins,

 

I have had the same questions as well. I've also wondered, since many of my company's products are bulk, how the shelf life is handled downstream. I do know that bulk products are often given short shelf lives. The shelf lives of bulk products are not always food safety issues; but can be quality issues. Over time, some bulk products lose color as you said and/or flavor. Some products can even change phase. None of those are going to hurt anyone, but could affect specifications of the end products. In general, you have to assess the products based on the hazards of shelf life extension.

 

I think a big reason why suppliers give shorter shelf life on their products is because they are basically making this product in large quantities. If they extend the shelf life, they are bound to get more complaints as the product gets older. This increases their liability and returns. On the other hand, there are products where the shelf life actually is very short due to the nature of the product.

 

I work in liquid sweeteners, and I can say the bulk shelf life is, more often than not, due to microbiological concerns with head space of containers. The larger the container, the larger the surface area for air and ultimately micro growth. The same product in a retail sized container will last much longer, and not exhibit the same sorts of micro growth.

 

You should find out from that cheese powder supplier if they do any sorts of shelf life extensions, and what happens to the product beyond its shelf life. You can also do your own testing on the product (pH, micro testing, color testing, sensory analysis, moisture, etc.) to make sure that it isn't negatively affecting your product. You'll find that a number of suppliers will tell you that you can do your own testing (if they won't guarantee an extension on shelf life) after shelf life is complete to determine suitability.

 

I've worked with seasonings, and have had similar issues. The problems you're experiencing are more quality than food safety related, so I can understand why you are having a hard time convincing your boss. However, I've been able to get those types of things discarded especially when they are losing their proper characteristics. If you've received customer complaints about the product, you may be able to get your boss to eventually understand the importance of fresh ingredients. You could also do some product testing against the specifications to try and show whether or not the product is out-of-spec for you. It's really not good practice to use products beyond shelf-life unless you're provided with justification; in this case your supplier doesn't sound like they will be extending the shelf life of the seasonings.

 

 

QAGB

[Charles.C]

Hi AEScroggins,

 

The basic defect you have elegantly described is that the commercial practice of referencing  shelf lives to a (re-?) packaging step may be illogical, unvalidatable, and occasionally  illegal. It is also sometimes inevitable.

 

Actually, although it seems FS bizarre, i thought date-labelling in the US is legally optional.