Shelf life study

A “Use by date” “Best before date” or “expiry date” or shelf life is compulsorily displayed on the label of every packaged food product as per FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS (LABELLING AND DISPLAY) REGULATIONS, 2020 by the manufacturer or packer.  This date signifies the end of the period under any stated storage conditions during which the food product shall remain fully marketable and shall retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made, and beyond that date, the food may still be perfectly safe to consume, though, its quality may have diminished. 

“Chennai Mettex Lab” is involved in the study of the “shelf life” of food products. A shelf life study is used to determine how long a food product can reasonably be expected to be kept & consumed by the consumer by analyzing the changes in quality in two ways.

Real-time shelf-life study

A real-time shelf-life study involves storing the product under ambient/refrigerated/deep-freeze conditions for a period of time longer than the expected shelf life and checking the product at regular intervals to see when it begins to spoil.  This study applies to food products with a short shelf life of up to 3 months refrigerated products or deep-freezed products.

 Accelerated shelf-life study

Accelerated shelf-life study involves accelerated storage to determine the shelf life of long shelf life food products and checking the product at regular intervals to see when it begins to spoil.  A brief outline of these is given later.

The suitable tests are being selected for determining the safety and quality of the product during the shelf-life period such as sensory evaluation, and physical, chemical & microbiological test parameters.