Food Durability - Shelf Life - Challenge Test

It can be understood as shelf life or durability test, in certain storage conditions, the time limit within which the progress of individual reactive events determines imperceptible changes, or in any case still acceptable, in terms of safety of use.

During storage and distribution, foods are exposed to a large number of factors capable of modifying their intrinsic properties; oxygen, light, humidity are just some of these capable of triggering degradative reactions.

The logical consequence of the degradation mechanisms is the unacceptability of these products by consumers and, in the most serious cases, the possible danger deriving from their consumption in unsuitable conditions. It is therefore imperative for companies to know and, when possible, forecast the shelf life of products subjected to the various conditions of transformation, storage, wrapping (and packaging), transport and distribution.

Thanks to many years of experience in packaging and thanks to the know-how acquired on food, CSI carries out shelf life studies, which are organized according to the following guidelines:

  • Evaluation of innovative food / packaging systems;
  • Development of protocols for the assessment of qualitative degradation (hygienic, microbiological, sensory, nutritional and chemical-physical): Sensory tests, analysis of the L * a * b ΔE image, Texture analyzer, Oxitest, chemical parameters and microbiologists;
  • Implementation of innovative ASLT (Accelerated Shelf Life Test) procedures to reduce testing times and increase their effectiveness;
  • Definition of methodologies for "abuse tests" in order to stress the shelf life of perishable products.

Microbiological challenge test

Challenge tests are microbial tests used in the food sector to study the behavior, specifically the growth capacity, of a pathogenic or deteriorating microorganism in a food under certain storage conditions. Performing a challenge test means inserting a certain amount of a microorganism or chemical compound on the surface or inside a food product and evaluating what happens during the handling and / or storage phases.

The challenge tests that can be carried out are of two types:

  • process
  • product.

In the process challenge test, a significant number of the microorganisms under study is inoculated into the raw material under controlled conditions and the state of the microorganism is assessed during the production process; this can provide validation of the production processes themselves.

In the product challenge test, on the other hand, a significant number of the microorganisms under study is inoculated into the finished product, under controlled environmental conditions, the product is packaged under commercial conditions and the state of the microorganisms is assessed during its shelf life.

The execution of a challenge test is always preceded by a planning phase, during which a series of factors relating to the food and microorganisms subject to the test are studied and processed, which must be taken into account in setting up the test itself.

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