10 replies to this topic

[Persian girl]

In our fish processing factory, we have a practice of processing fish upon receiving an order. This approach enhances the shelf life of the fish, as it remains uncut, and the skin acts as a natural barrier, preserving its freshness. When we fillet the fish, we assign a shelf life of five days from the packing date.

However, a challenge arose during an audit. The auditor questioned how we could validate that the shelf life is indeed five days. Our response was that our shelf life testing confirms a five-day duration. The auditor then raised a pertinent point: if a fish remains in stock for ten days, how can we ensure that the fish processed on the tenth day still has a five-day shelf life, especially when compared to fish processed on the first or fifth day?

This query highlights the need to consider the total time the fish has been in stock, not just the time post-processing, in our shelf life assessments.

We take sample from final product (fresh fish) bimonthly and results always was fine. We have 3 times stock rotation per day that is documented and recorded.

[SQFconsultant]

Our clients that are in the seafood industry calculate effective "shelf" from the time/date it enters the facility. 

 

Fresh is fresh and 10 days later is not fresh. 

[Tony-C]

Hi Persian girl,

 

I’m with Glenn on this one, your shelf life/shelf life validation testing should be based on maximum time in stock (there must a maximum time stipulated) plus 5 days post-processing.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

 

[Persian girl]

Hi Persian girl,

 

I’m with Glenn on this one, your shelf life/shelf life validation testing should be based on maximum time in stock (there must a maximum time stipulated) plus 5 days post-processing.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

 

Our clients that are in the seafood industry calculate effective "shelf" from the time/date it enters the facility. 

 

Fresh is fresh and 10 days later is not fresh. 

Hi Tony & Glen

Thank you for your quick response. I have a question regarding shelf life testing for farmed fish like salmon, which typically has a 'best before' date on the box. My confusion lies in determining the appropriate time to take a sample for shelf life testing. Should the sample be taken solely on the final day of the salmon's shelf life to confirm that, even after being cut, it maintains a five-day shelf life? Or is it necessary to collect samples at various stages throughout the entire shelf life of the whole salmon?

[Persian girl]

Sorry, “use by “

[Scampi]

I would send the fish species to a lab and have them perform accelerated shelf life testing on your behalf

 

Then you'll have a validated shelf life based on your processing parameters

[Persian girl]

I would send the fish species to a lab and have them perform accelerated shelf life testing on your behalf

 

Then you'll have a validated shelf life based on your processing parameters

I did this, but the auditor said how you can prove the sample was taken from the fish in the first day of catch date or 10 days after? And is that 5 days for any day after catch date when organoleptic signs are fine?

[Scampi]

Well.........can you prove what day the fish were caught?

 

If you can, then rewrite your shelf life study to include that detail

 

If you can't then explain FULLY your process in your study.  What you need to do is remove ambiguity from this

 

5 days post catch for organoleptic alone is a pretty broad statement, I would be including storage procedures on the boat as well as transportation and your facility. Assuming that if the refer isn't running in the middle of summer you'd be at less than one day before the fish no longer met organoleptic standards

[Persian girl]

Well.........can you prove what day the fish were caught?

 

If you can, then rewrite your shelf life study to include that detail

 

If you can't then explain FULLY your process in your study.  What you need to do is remove ambiguity from this

 

5 days post catch for organoleptic alone is a pretty broad statement, I would be including storage procedures on the boat as well as transportation and your facility. Assuming that if the refer isn't running in the middle of summer you'd be at less than one day before the fish no longer met organoleptic standards

Thanks Scampi.
My plan is to do this study only for farmed salmon and farmed trout because they have “use by date” on the boxes. I plan to take sample from fish after processing in different intervals during 15 days post harvesting like day 2, day 5, day 10 and day 15. 
For caught wild fish there is no way to understand exact caught date! 

[jfrey123]

Someone correct me if I'm off base here: but if OP has written into their program to account for the shelf life added by their supplier, and made sure to not use fish within 5 days of that original use by date, doesn't that alleviate the issue?  My argument is we know the supplier already validated the shelf life on the fish as provided, and the OP's processing step starts a shelf life they've already validated.  So long as they're not claiming an extension of the raw material's original use by date, I can't see where shortening the shelf life after processing is an issue.

 

I think we do something like this in my beef/chicken/pork plant, but I'm not directly involved in that process should I could be wrong.

[Persian girl]

Hello,

I'm reaching out to share my proposed plan to address our shelf life testing for farmed salmon. Our current understanding is that a whole gutted salmon has a shelf life of 14 days post-harvest. For instance, if harvested on November 20th, the whole salmon's shelf life would extend until December 4th.

To study this more closely, I intend to take samples from a specific batch at two key intervals: 10 days and 14 days after harvest. On each of these days, I will process the fish into fillets and prepare three samples for analysis on days 1, 5, and 7 post-processing. The goal of this study is to establish a shelf life of 7 days for the processed fish. However, considering factors like summer temperatures and potential temperature variations during handling, I propose to reduce this by 2 days. This adjustment would result in a recommended shelf life of 5 days for our labeled products.