Breakfast cereals - is shelf life limited by raw materials?
Hi All,
I'm am looking into an incident where a breakfast cereal containing (multigrain flakes, cornflakes, dried fruit etc.) had an off-putting smell prior to end of shelf life (smelt rancid to me - the fat content however was quite low like 1.4% - too low to test for av and pv).
There is a question i have for those of you experienced in this area. I would imagine that the finished product shelf life would be limited by the shelf life of the raw ingredients. (i.e. the shelf life of raw materials should exceed the shelf life of the finished product). Is this the case or not?. Our contract manufacturer says "like all cooking processes the shelf life of the raw materials is extended by the cooking process". Cooking would kill bactiera but it won't make old stock new again correct. Does anyone know of any guides or codes of practice for these types of products?
Ragga
SL of Breakfast Cereals is limited by shelf life of Raw materials.
Cooking (oven toasting) accelerates rancidity of oats and other flakes. Test results do not indicate rancidity. Sensory is the best way. You can use natural antioxidants like tocopherols to ensure the stability of cereals through to Shelf life.
If the cereals shelf life is limited by raw materials, please explain me how to produce cereals?
For instance cereals are made from three ingredients A - 8 months shelf life
B - 6 months shelf life
C - 9 months shelf life
According what you say on the labe should be shelf life 6 months according to B ingredients?
And what if we are using ingredients B 3 months later in production and then it has only 3 months shelf life so our finished product has to have only 3 months shelf life???
And what if we are using ingredients B 5 months later in production and then it has only 1 months shelf life so our finished product has to have only 1 months shelf life???
What is a solution in real life (in food industry)? What is a legal practice in this case?