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?