Tips on accelerating the shelf life testing of mushroom based product

Hi,
I have a mushroom based product that I am working on at the moment. The product is completely free of any artificials at present, but the client wants a longer shelf life- currently only about two weeks.

I have pasteurised the product at 85 C for 10 minutes. And am now waiting to see what happens. Does anybody have information on accelerating the shelf life testing? I have 6 weeks to test the product for a year long shelf life- I know that there are ways and means but no idea where to start looking.

Thanks,
Regards,
Norah

Hi,
I have a mushroom based product that I am working on at the moment. The product is completely free of any artificials at present, but the client wants a longer shelf life- currently only about two weeks.

I have pasteurised the product at 85 C for 10 minutes. And am now waiting to see what happens. Does anybody have information on accelerating the shelf life testing? I have 6 weeks to test the product for a year long shelf life- I know that there are ways and means but no idea where to start looking.

Thanks,
Regards,
Norah

Anyone got experience in this area to share with Norah.

I do have experience but only early on in my career with confectionery. It depended on the confectionery product and the type of expected degredation; e.g. for a biscuit based product, a warm, wet atmosphere was used to accelarate softening. The problem is, this was a method developed over years with no basis in the literature as far as I'm aware and also only quality degredation was expected not pathogen growth. They also had the years of practical experience of their products in the marketplace.

I suppose I will start with pathogens - are any likely? Is growth likely? Do you have Aw measurements? Once you know that you're looking for quality degredation only, it will be easier to work with but this might be methodology you develop over time unfortunately.

Dear Norah,

No direct experience but some general theory with practical examples is given in a book "quality of frozen food" whose relevant pages are freely viewable on the web (google "microbiological accelerated shelf life testing" and look for title / authors Marilyn Erickson and Yen-con Hung on 1st google page). This does not discuss microbiological data (I think). The reasons are discussed in these other relevant links, seems micro.testing is considered to have limited use unless a lot of product detail is available. Nonetheless I know it is done from my own experience in seafood.
Sorry but didn't see any specific answers for mushrooms.

http://www.foodscien.../shelf-life.htm
http://www.rhmtech.c...e/microbial.php
http://www.foodprodu...462_0298QA.html
http://www.foodscien...fsn/2/fsn2d.htm
http://www.meatupdat...UPDATE_06-2.pdf

Rgds / Charles.C

Hi,
I have a mushroom based product that I am working on at the moment. The product is completely free of any artificials at present, but the client wants a longer shelf life- currently only about two weeks.

I have pasteurised the product at 85 C for 10 minutes. And am now waiting to see what happens. Does anybody have information on accelerating the shelf life testing? I have 6 weeks to test the product for a year long shelf life- I know that there are ways and means but no idea where to start looking.

Thanks,
Regards,
Norah

DEar Norah...

to make a study for shelf life test using accelerating methode.. :
1. you have to define what the critical parameter for the mushroom quality changes.. i think the parameters are : changes in colour, mass loss, and microbial spoilage

2. Using diferent temperature for accelerating test plus one Temperature control..you can use T control + 10oC and Tcontrol + 20oC, for example if your control temperature is 25oC, the tempertaure test are 25, 35,45 and 55 oC.

3. And after that you can count the self life using Arhenius formula..

hope can help you

Norah - have the replies answered your query?

Hi Norah,

Only little experience with meat and cheese.
Increasing the temperature to 35-45 C.
We compared the cooled products with the hot stored ones on discoloration only.

Have a nice day, Okido

Hi All,
Thanks a million for all your responses. I am busy looking through all the information, but am sure this will give me a better idea.

Kind regards,
Norah- Ann