pH requirements for a shelf-stable beverage
I am developing a shel-stable beverage. ingredients will be mixed in to a tea and filled. Current pH is 4.8, we are planning to lower it to 4.5. I was looking at pH of commercial products , those mostly around 3.15-3.5 or lower, confused if we need to be below 3.5 or 4.6?
We have two flavors:
Ingredients: brewed tea, critic acid, flavor.
Ingredients: brewed tea, critic acid, agave syrup, flavor
Do we need to add another preservative to it? We don't want to store and transport it non-refrigerated.
Thank you !
The answer to most of your questions is perhaps "maybe" ;)
The 4.6 limit for the US is due to the transition into acid foodstuffs. Beyond that it can be made to work in a number of different ways, depending on processing/packaging types available, formulation preferences etc.
Consider e.g. UHT milk is shelf-stable and doesn't use preservative, but definitely isn't low pH.
You may well be able to hot-fill (or pasteurised in bottle) and not need preservative, but this is obviously reliant on having the facilities and packaging to do so.
It may therefore be useful to know a bit more about your process - if/how you're doing the heat treatment, how you're filling, what packaging (PET/glass etc) you're aiming to use.
So I'm a bit confused because you state you do not want to ship and store non-refrigerated. Is the intention of these items required to be refrigerated throughout storage and distribution? If so, that impacts what you need to do with pH. If intention is to ship and store refrigerated throughout then you can stay at current 4.8 pH.
However, if you want shelf-stable (non-refrigerated), then your pH must be no higher than 4.6. Since you are adding citric acid it is relatively easy to adjust your pH as low as you want. Generally, the lower the better as it will protect flavor degradation throughout shelf-life and better microbial inhibition. Of course, the lower the pH the more pronounced astringency and acidity flavor profile in the product.
If you are adding citric acid for the purpose of lowering the pH the product / item will fall under an acidified food and will be required to be registered with the FDA along with the facility that is processing the product. If you are using a co-packer they can help you with the FDA registration piece of the puzzle.
Good luck...isn't product development fun? Lots of pitfalls to watch out for...