8 replies to this topic

[MRRobison]

Hi all! To preface: this is regarding a a water based sauce with sausage and tomatoes being produced in a mid size kettle cooked manufacturing facility. Due to staffing shortages, I am looking into preparing half on an RTE entrée (the sauce) ahead of time, freeze, thaw, and pack with the secondary item. The item is sold fresh and thus cant be shipped to end customer frozen. I have been looking into thawing options and think a cold water thaw would be our best option, but am unsure of how this would impact the shelf life. My experience is in Quality but I have recently been thrust into food safety and am trying to learn as I go with no on site resources beyond myself. If the product is frozen within 1 day of manufacture, stored for 3-4weeks frozen, and then thawed via cold water method, would there be a significant reduction on the shelf life? Or could it be coded as the same shelf life, with the start being the point of defrost? Apologies if this has already been asked, and any links to threads or information at all is much appreciated!

[Scampi]

Your shelf life query depends heavily on how sanitary the process is more than it does the freeze/thaw process

 

Assuming you have constantly running water going over full sealed frozen product, you should see a negligible impact on shelf

 

The issue is general handling, particularly when you'll be handling it twice as that is where you could reintroduce spoilage organisms.

 

Is it blast frozen?  What is the cooling process, is it rapid enough to prevent the growth of spoilage organisms?

[MRRobison]

Your shelf life query depends heavily on how sanitary the process is more than it does the freeze/thaw process

 

Assuming you have constantly running water going over full sealed frozen product, you should see a negligible impact on shelf

 

The issue is general handling, particularly when you'll be handling it twice as that is where you could reintroduce spoilage organisms.

 

Is it blast frozen?  What is the cooling process, is it rapid enough to prevent the growth of spoilage organisms?

We are looking into blast freezing, but potentially may need to freeze it via a regular freezer, which is my greatest concern in shortening shelf life. The cooling process is using water chill tanks that requires cooling within 6 hours of cooking. The product is all fully sealed in bags and would not be opened or exposed at any point once packaged. 

[Charles.C]

Hi all!

 

To preface: this is regarding a a water based sauce with sausage and tomatoes being produced in a mid size kettle cooked manufacturing facility.

 

Due to staffing shortages, I am looking into preparing half on an RTE entrée (the sauce) ahead of time, freeze, thaw, and pack with the secondary item. The item is sold fresh and thus cant be shipped to end customer frozen.

 

I have been looking into thawing options and think a cold water thaw would be our best option, but am unsure of how this would impact the shelf life. My experience is in Quality but I have recently been thrust into food safety and am trying to learn as I go with no on site resources beyond myself.

 

If the product is frozen within 1 day of manufacture, stored for 3-4weeks frozen, and then thawed via cold water method, would there be a significant reduction on the shelf life? Or could it be coded as the same shelf life, with the start being the point of defrost?

 

Apologies if this has already been asked, and any links to threads or information at all is much appreciated!

 

Hi MRR,

 

This looks, IMO, like a significantly precarious undertaking from a FS micro-POV. Especially due to comments such as noted Post 2.

 

Not too sure as to the meaning (eg distributional consequences) and US-legal ramifications of  ^^^^(red) ?. 

 

Is the commercialised product regarded as RTE ?

[SQFconsultant]

The term fresh is interesting in this context where you say it is sold fresh but can be shipped frozen -  general rule is that once frozen it is not fresh.

 

I love watching the old Kitchen Nightmare shows with Gordon Ramsey where a waiter will say something is fresh and he asks if it came in frozen to which the response is yes, but it is still fresh - no, actually it is not.

[Scampi]

For clarity (of sorts)   https://www.accessda...h.cfm?fr=101.95

The terms defined in this section may be used on the label or in labeling of a food in conformity with the provisions of this section. The requirements of the section pertain to any use of the subject terms as described in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section that expressly or implicitly refers to the food on labels or labeling, including use in a brand name and use as a sensory modifier. However, the use of the term "fresh" on labels or labeling is not subject to the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section if the term does not suggest or imply that a food is unprocessed or unpreserved. For example, the term "fresh" used to describe pasteurized whole milk is not subject to paragraph (a) of this section because the term does not imply that the food is unprocessed (consumers commonly understand that milk is nearly always pasteurized). However, the term "fresh" to describe pasta sauce that has been pasteurized or that contains pasteurized ingredients would be subject to paragraph (a) of this section because the term implies that the food is not processed or preserved. Uses of fresh not subject to this regulation will be governed by the provisions of 403(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act).

[MRRobison]

Hi MRR,

 

This looks, IMO, like a significantly precarious undertaking from a FS micro-POV. Especially due to comments such as noted Post 2.

 

Not too sure as to the meaning (eg distributional consequences) and US-legal ramifications of  ^^^^(red) ?. 

 

Is the commercialised product regarded as RTE ?

The product is RTE, cooked prior to packaging and cooling, fully sealed. And it CANNOT be shipped frozen. At this moment I am less concerned with the labeling schema, as that is the determination of the end customer and outside of my control (we are a copacker), and more concerned with the FS aspects of the freezing and thawing process.

[Charles.C]

The product is RTE, cooked prior to packaging and cooling, fully sealed. And it CANNOT be shipped frozen. At this moment I am less concerned with the labeling schema, as that is the determination of the end customer and outside of my control (we are a copacker), and more concerned with the FS aspects of the freezing and thawing process.

 

Hi MRR,

 

Thks response.

 

The predictive difficulty is that there are so many operational variables.

 

My experience includes freezing raw seafood. On thawing/cooking, IMO, the frozen product always tastes inferior to the fresh.

 

Is there Regulatory control on end product ? Displayed chilled ? target shelf-life ?

 

I think you need some preliminary R&D.

[Ted S]

Hello MRRobison. Most of my career has been in the sauce industry, and I appreciate what you are trying to accomplish due to your labor situation. There are a few things that I would recommend: 1) Take samples of the sauce and freeze/thaw them as you hope you can do. Once thawed, evaluate them against an unfrozen standard for flavor, appearance and product separation. Depending on the type of sauce and the thickeners used at time of manufacture, the freeze/thaw can cause the product to separate. Many starches/thickeners (ex. flour) are not designed to be frozen, so this is a very important step in the evaluation. If the product separates after freezing, this might prevent you from moving forward with your idea. 2) Conduct mircrobiological testing on the both the fresh and frozen/thawed product from day one (manufacture date), thaw date, end of shelf life date. If the microbiological does not change on both the fresh and frozen/thawed, you should be fine from a microbiological standpoint. 

 

Regarding the thawing process, I would first see if you could pack the product frozen, and just let it thaw on its own during storage/distribution. I have worked on many projects where we also sold "fresh" refrigerated product and added frozen components at time of final assembly and would just let the "frozen sauce" thaw at it sat packaged in the final product. Obviously, thawing in this manner depends on the size of the portion, but it sounds like this is a portion controlled item that is around 2-4 oz. At the very least, I would do a test and see if this approach will work. If so, you will save yourself a lot of work in that you will not need to manage the thawing process each time. Just a thought. Finally, I assume you are under USDA inspection due to the sausage component? If so, the USDA will want to see your HACCP plan reflect this process change if you will need to thaw before final assembly.

 

Good luck! 

 

Ted