Organic food shelf time

Hello everyone,

I'm running a business in producing fruits spread without preservative agent nor palm oil. I'm from Madagasikara where I started it since March, 2019.

The main issue is the too short shelf time of my products when there are been stored. In my recipe, I use fresh eggs. With very good taste and positive feed-back from the market, I am not going to change the recipe.

Every advices and tips from all of you are very welcome!

Hi and welcome!

Perhaps you can describe your product more?  I'm not familiar with fruit spreads containing egg unless it's a lemon curd?  What is in your recipe or can you link to a similar product?

Thanks for your reply.


You're right, Lemon curd recipe is the basis of my mixture: eggs, sugar, agar, vegetable margarine and of course lemon (which I replace with other fruits like lychees, orange or chocolate like Nutella).


There was a time I used preservatives agents such as xantham gum, potassium sorbate, sodium metabisulphite but as I reported before in the title, it's about organic food.

So what are the best practice or tips or suggestions you can give ?

Similar products: Nutella, Chivers lemon curd...

Thanks.  To my knowledge xanthan gum influences texture rather than acting as a preservative but I'm not an expert?

I suppose what ensures the "storability" of lemon curd is the level of sugar and acidity in the product.  What is the shelf life issue you're having?  Is it mould growth?  I'd be most nervous about the "Nutella curd" style product if you mean you replace the lemons with Nutella / chocolate.  You are then replacing an acidic ingredient with a neutral one (and also one known for Salmonella issues.)

Anyone with more experience than myself?

Great!

Nutella is simply a similar product and is not a part of the recipe. I use local cocoa powder. Well, the current shelf time is about 5 days if refrigerated and only 2 days if stored in simply cool place.
As you guessed, mould growth occurs slowly.
I would like to emphasize the acidity level and sugar as mentioned above. Is anyone can share his experience ?

Great!

Nutella is simply a similar product and is not a part of the recipe. I use local cocoa powder. Well, the current shelf time is about 5 days if refrigerated and only 2 days if stored in simply cool place.
As you guessed, mould growth occurs slowly.
I would like to emphasize the acidity level and sugar as mentioned above. Is anyone can share his experience ?

Xanthan gum is a stabilizer / thickener, not a preservative.

Are you applying any type of heating or cooking?  If not, that's your first step.  You need to apply some type of process to not only eliminate spoilage bacteria (mold), but potential pathogens from the eggs.  You mentioned fresh eggs so I'm assuming raw eggs.

Here's a reference for egg pasteurization, including liquid eggs.  https://www.aeb.org/...tion_Manual.pdf  There's no set temperature and time limits as it is dependent on the solids and the viscosity of the eggs.  Now, if you are going to heat / cook everything with the ingredients that will change the heating temperature and time required.

Is the mold spoilage all on the surface?  Or are you finding it inside the product?  If surface mold I would point to poor air quality in mixing, and or packing the product.  If the mold is inside the product then your heating / cooking step is not sufficient, or you are using an ingredient that has high mold levels, or both.

Welcome to food science!  It can be very challenging...but rewarding once you start to make progress.

I recalled back to a previous employer where we batched and made various fruit bases for yogurts and bakery bar fillings.  We did some custard based products with liquid eggs.  These products we generally heated to 180 degrees F for minimum of 2 minutes.  We would add the liquid eggs last allowing them to cool the batch down (they were frozen, but we thawed before using) and held at 170 degrees F for 2 minutes before final cooling and packing.

Our critical limit on temperature was based on the US FDA Food Code (for restaurants).  It was never a problem with auditors, or with our products (we tested every batch of product for pathogens).  Here's a link to the US FDA Food Code.

https://www.fda.gov/...110822/download

Many thanks Ryan!

Mold appears on the surface. We applying cooking process and sterilizing jars.  I do understand it depends on the temperature cooking and on a high level  Hygiene rules.

But I'm happy to learn more with your link how to get eggs pasteurized. It's a less practiced technique for us. Now, we're going to set up pasteurization eggs and improve sterilization process untill we come through and get the right temperatures without changing the taste.

Thanks for the tips, I didn't catch on it >>> "If surface mold I would point to poor air quality in mixing, and or packing the product".

Thanks for you Ismene!

It's so clear now! We will pay more attention to it!

Great!

Nutella is simply a similar product and is not a part of the recipe. I use local cocoa powder.

Cocoa powder then combined with fatty ingredients could result in a product where very low contamination with Salmonella could lead to illness (and of course there are the eggs.)

When I've made lemon curd domestically it involved heating eggs, butter, lemon juice and fine peel and sugar in a bain marie to thicken.  It's possible the temperatures you're reaching with your process won't be killing mould spores but you also need to be sure it's killing pathogens.  Worth checking into.  Also how are you sterilising your jars?

Actually, we increasing the cooking temperature as well as the duration. And we are sterilizing jars in boiling water (+ 175 ° C or more).

Could you tell me how long are your lemon curd shelf life last ?

Actually, we increasing the cooking temperature as well as the duration. And we are sterilizing jars in boiling water (+ 175 ° C or more).

 

Could you tell me how long are your lemon curd shelf life last ?

Domestically I'd keep lemon curd (refrigerated) for about 2 weeks.

Daft question, how and where do you keep your jars after they're sterilised?  Do you allow them to cool before filling or hot fill?  Do you sterilise the lids?  How do you check the seal is adequate?

Okay, thanks.

Basically, we sterilise both the jars and lids about 30-45mn before filling (before 1 to 2 hours).

We suppose that the seal is right when the lid is simply well locked.

But recently, we have been trained in a better way of sealing jars: we are improving our techniques to get the "pop" sound when opening a filled jars.

We are not yet 100% successful but we act on the tip.