6 and Shelf-Life* ‘Tueooone P. Lanuza & Petros S. TAOUKIS St Paul, Minnesota, USA ABSTRACT 18-78 and a Project supported by The 3M Company. B The Relationship Between Processing Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, The purpose of this paper is to review briefly the principles in shelf-life testing including use of sensory data in a shelf-life test, 10 review the models used to extrapolate the data from abuse conditions to the real world, to point out the pitfalls of what the data really mean as compared with the actual production of the food and finally to illustrate some examples of the use of time-temperature integrators in helping to control shelf-life delivered to the customer. The use of order determina- tion and a review of the Arrhenius temperature model will be discussed in comparison with generation of polynomial models with computer- Gided solutions. The Weibull hazard method for sensory testing is contrasted with the more-used hedonic scoring. interaction of shelf-life with moisture gain or loss through the package film is presented as an example of the limitations of the temperature-only model. Once experimental data are properly collected and analyzed, the shelf-life for ‘any time-temperature-humidity sequence can be determined. Devices fo determine an effective temperature for a given food distribution are described. This effective temperature is that which theoretically will sive the same degradation in quality as a product going through the ‘actual distribution for the same amount of time. Use of an integrator an enable the distributor to change from a FIFO (fist-in-firs-out) distribution system 10 least shelf-life left distribution method. Theoret- ically this latter method should increase the end quality delivered to the * Published as paper No. 17292 of the contribution series of the Minnesota Agricultural Experimental Station based on research conducted under Project Food Ge the "70's Buch; Congoll Pal 6 Linde Elsevier WypheS Seas, Aen thek 46™ ‘hdr P. Laas & Poot Tah consumer. Pifalls such ta history effet, thermal lags, end differences in actation energy between the integrator tags and the food are discusted. The fot that a difference should Be expected between the ‘shelf-life of the actual product and that used in the shelf-life test Iusoated. Knowledge of these factors wil help the food procesor in the future 19 deliver beter produc 10 the consumer, which should be the goal of the 1990. By then a true open date that tls the actual shelf-life left should be practical. INTRODUCTION “The fact thet foods are diverse, complex and active systems, in which rmirobiologial, enzymatic and physicochemical reactions are simul- taneously taking place, makes their study an arduour task. Food preservation is dependent on the understanding ofthese reactions and {heir respective mechanisms, the sucessful imitation of the ones most, responsible for spoilage or loss of desirable characteristics, and fometimes the channeling, of other ‘reactions towards beneficial changes. sentially, the shelFlife ofa food, i.e. the period it will etain an sczeptable level of eating quality fom a safety and organoleptic point ‘of rem, depends on four main factors, namely formulation, process- ing, packaging and storage conditions. In today’s modern processing terminology these factors are addressed in the HACCP (Hazard ‘Analysis Creal Control Point) concept, comprehensive quality ‘control-quality arerence methodology that aime to ensure both food tfety and high quality. All four factors are cial but thei relative importance depends on the perishabilty of the food. Generally, a perishable food (property stored) has under 14 days of shelFlife, Timited in most cases by biochemical (enzymatc/senesence) of microbial. decay. “With new aseptic technology and controled ‘tmosphere/modiied atmosphere packaging (CAP/MAP) such foods ‘may last up 1090 das. A semi-pershabe food, such a some cheeses land frozen desserts, has ashelfife up to six months, while self-stable (non-perishable) foods, e.g. most canned foods, last over six months land as long as three years under proper storage conditions. Formulation involves. the selection of the most appropriate raw ‘materials and functional ingredients that wil increase the appeal and ‘ensure safety and integrity of the food fo Proceing ad Sh fe s includes making sure thatthe raw materials and ingredients have not lost their shelGlfe, Processing subjects the formulated materials and ingredients to conditions that are unfavorable or inhibitory to unde- sirable deteriorative reactions and promotive to desirable ptysial and chemical changes, thus giving the food product its final form and ‘haracersies (except inthe relatively few eases where postprocessing ging is necestary, e.g, in wines and hard cheeses). Once the food leaves the procstig stage, its keeping properties and the extent t0 which it will retain is intended attributes are a function of its Inicroenvronment. The important parameters are gas. composi (oxygen, carbon dioxide, inert gases, ethylene, ete), the relative humidity (RH), pressure’ or mechanical stresses, ight and tempers- ture. These parameters are dependent on both packaging and storage conditions, te other two factors. Ii interesting fo note that in many large US food companies the shelf testing function was (or stil) the domain of the packaging research group, on the basis of the roncous assumption that packaging changes are all that are needed fo increase product fe. This assumption completely ignores the {teratvity ofthe four factors delineated above. Tn modern, largely urbanized society, food products are often manufactured thousands of miles away from ther final destination and perishable formerly available ony in season ate being demanded and ‘Supplied all year round. Todays consumers are more sophisticated and Increasingly expect food products with more sensory appeal, con ‘venient to prepare and use, nutritionally superior and longer lasting. [AU the same time consumers want fewer additives and optimized, ‘minimal processing, ‘The seemingly incompatible objectives of the longer shelflife but less processed (esher) foods require intense optimization of all the preservation parameters and possibly innovative "proaches to ensure minimum food degradation. In the process of designing and inoducing a new food product, additional parameters play a major role in the optimization scheme, ramely cost and marketing considerations. The later introduce ‘constrains that preclude the use of certain ingredients or processes And in some cases dictate the use of particular alternatives. These Tequiements are based on real of perceived consumer attitudes on ‘what constitutes a nutritious and healthy diet and in many cases they festit the use of formulas that would otherwise be the choee in an ‘optimum product from a cost/quality standpoint. Avery recent example isthe trend in which “tropical” fats (coconut and palm oils),% Pheer P Labace & Pas. Tas tecase of thir supposedly ueathy image in being hgh saturated, tre being replaced th peyunetirated vegetable ol in formulated itodh The substitution aot only cotineectv, ut aso advesly ‘ets th shelf feof he prod, nodal inecased susceptibility {Sind oxidation. Thus, the change of «single procsing parame Gaited to complete’ fe-evlution of the optimum. production Thome. possly reqig reformulation (eg addon of at San ange in proceing and capes new packaging onder to tin ihe rege shelf To cove that the later i achieved, “pproprate shelf eting is normally required. APPROACHES TO SHELF-LIFE ESTIMATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS it mbt an of pot sa mt oo et se Experimental data of concentration vs time forall tested temperatures are used, substantially increasing the degrees of freedom tnd hence giving much narrower conidenee intervals fr the estimated parameter “Al the methods described above forthe estimation ofthe Arrhenius parameters require isothermal kinetic experiments at three of more Temperatures and a one- or tworstep data analysis. An altern Inethod that has been proposed isthe use ofa single nonsotherm: ‘experiment. During the experiment there is a controlled increase of the temperature sccording to a predetermined function, T(). This ‘method is commonly used inthe pharmaceutical industry. Voshioks ‘2. statistically evaluated this method and concluded that itrequited & large number of samples to be taken to a higher reactant conversion than in the isothermal method. The noe-sothermal method is very Sensitive to experimental error in concentration measurements, not being satisfactory ata 5% precision level which i usual inthe ease of foods. Even at a low experimental error level (2%), the one-step isothermal method with experiments at three temperatures gave bet Procsing and Selif s precision and accuracy forthe estimation ofthe Arthenis parameters {han the non-isothermal method with neatly increasing temperature ‘the sume range and forthe same otal number of datapoints ‘An alternative way of expresing temperature dependence, which hha been sed extensively by the food industry and inthe food science ‘and biochemistry literature, is the Qie approach. Qe is defined as the Tato ofthe reaction rate constants at temperatures difering by 10°C. Equivalently Qip has been defined athe change of shefie 8, i. the time for A (or B) to teach unacceptable levels when the food is Hored at temperature higher by 10°C. This definition is important ince the majority of the earier food iteature reports end-poit data ther than complete kinetic modeling of quality loss. The Qh ‘approach in essence introduces a temperature-dependence equation of the form ay which implies that if In i plotted vs temperature (instead of 1/7 of the Archenius equation) a straight line i obtained. Equivalently, In By ‘ean be plotted vs temperature. Such plots are often called shel fe plow, where bis the slope of the seltife plot and fy isthe intere ‘They are true straight lines only for nartow temperature ranges" 10-20°C, For such a narrow interval, data from an Arrhenius pot will tive arelatively stright line in ashelfife plot. In Fig. ran Arrhenius plot of shelf and a shelCie plot are compared. In other words, ‘Qy and b ate functions of temperature and depend on the tempera: fare range for eqn (11). For the activation energy of @ food quality —_— wom : a %; a1 (Arbeit of el eo a wth mon ae ea 2° ad Toth aPC) Shee a heme od‘TaMLE 2 Qu Dependence on fn and Temperate Fe en (Geant 0 116 m 3513402 mee Ses Teale los reaction, Qe and 6 ae inetelated though the folowing ction -Fx_10 RTT +) ‘The variation of Quo wih temperature for reactions of dierent acivain encay sen in Tobe. ‘evertbelow here ne factors eevant o fod and food quality los reaction tat ‘can case ipa deviations ftom. Areny te: Tinr it emperstu. The faces were oto by Labusn & Titoh.> The most important i tmperatureenured change fn he teacton condos (E) that ar sued constant. Phase changes te ‘ten involved Fatma change fo the hg state contain othe ‘torn af orn eacans, oie wera In oven feos the ‘ect of phase change of the water to ie in 8 ood comes frovounced rte cease Inte immediate subrectingtenporature feng. The ate icease expecially notable for reactant of low intl conetration andi rata baal othe ere concentration tfc. Wi prominent nthe lemperine 000 of maximus oe farmaton, the width of which wil depend onthe type of food ut ercralyil bin hc range of °C “UC: Experimenta sie, ‘Sowing hs nope tempertre eet were rvened ty Singh & ‘Wong! Other pase ange phesomens are so important Cat- Donyertes inte amorphous tate may cyte at oer tenpe {ars resting move bs ater fr ot resco bu reducing the tmovot of suas aval for easton Denatraton of tein can inten or decree ter sept to chem reactions, depen ing upon he strechemical factor that te hese reaction, anther intr that an cae now Aheie bebav. «@ Proce nd Sh fe © When two reactions important to food quality and with diferent E values oecur inthe food, it i possible that each of them will predominantly define quality in diferent temperature range. Thus, for example, if quality is measured by an overall favor score, the ‘ualty change rate ve 1/T will have a diferent slope in each ofthese gions. This is shown schematically in Fig. 2. A typical example of ch Behavior is quality loss of dehydrated potatoes! where. lipid ‘oxidation and loss of fat solube vitamins predominate up to 31°C, and nonenzymatic browning and lysine loss above 31°C "For reactions that involve enzymatic activity or microbial growth the temperature-dependence plot shows « maximum rate at an optimum {emperature, below which Archenius-type behavior is exhibited whilst bore it an inverse Arthenius behavior is followed (Ink decreases Sireatly with 177). "A temperature increase increases the water activity at the same moisture level of enhances the moisture exchange with the environ- tment in caes of foods in moistue-permeable packages, aflecting the Teoetion rate as wil be diseused in the next section, Solubility of iases especialy of oxygen, changes with temperature (25% decrease ‘wth every 10°C inereate for oxygen in water) thus affecting oxidation reactions where the oxygen is limiting. ‘Taking into account the described limitations and the possible sources of deviation, the Arrhenius equation can sl be wsed to model food degradation for certain ranges Of temperatures, This model can bbe used to predict reaction rates and shelf-life of the food at any temperature within the range, without actual testing. Equally impor- 2. Ou os emperor fe ectFo. 3 let af Qi 08 ASLT tines fra ood of 18 monte sae at rom tenperat (, 20) The ASL coaducted OCF GPC) tant, it allows the use of the concept of accelerated shelF-life testing (asi. ‘ASLT, as described above, involves the use of higher testing temperatures in food quality loss and shelf-life experiments and ‘extrapolation ofthe resus 10 regular storage conditions through the tie of the Arthenius equation. This cuts down very substantially the testing time. A reaction of an average E. of 20Kcal/mol (84K3/mol) ray be accelerated 9 to 13fold with a 20°C increase in the testing temperature, depending on the temperature zone. In Fig. 3 the ASLT ime needed fra food that ha a shelflife of 18 months st 72°F (22°C) is shown for diferent Qyq values. Thus an experiment that would take 2 year can be completed in about a month. This principle and the methodology in conducting effective ASLT are described by Labura® land Labuza & Schmil.® Bffects of other Environmental Factors ‘The relative humidity of the immediate environment which directly affects the moisture content and water activity (,) of @ food isthe Second most important environmental factor that affects the rate of food deterioration reactions.» Water activity describes the degre of binding ofthe water contained inthe food and its availabilty 0 act as ‘solvent and paticpate in chemical reactions.» Critical levels of a Proce and Sh Le ° ‘ean be established above which undesirable deterioration of food ‘evar, such as microbial growth or textural changes. Contoling the nis the basis for preservation of dy and intermediate moisture foods GME) Besides the specif critical e, limits, water activity has a pronounced effect on chemical reactions in these foods. Generally, the hilty of water to act a8 a solvent, reaction medium and as a reactant Sse increases with Increasing a. As result, many deteriorative reactions increase exponentially in rate with increasing a, above the Value corresponding to monolayer moisture, the value at which most Teactions have a minimum rate. For lipid oxidation the rate increases fgain a the a, decreases below the monolayer value. The proposed theories that attempt to explain the effect of au on {ood detertoration reactions aswell as ways to approach and model this ‘tec systematically were discussed by Labuza.” The moisture content Snd water activity can influence the kinetic parameters a, Eq), the Concentrations of the reactants and in some eases even the apparent eartion order, n. Most relevant studies have modeled ether Ry a8 a fanetion of a rlated tothe change of mobility of reactants due to a, dependent changes of viscosity," or Ey as a function of a," The inverse relationship of E with a, (lnctease in ay decreases Ey and ‘Vie versa) could be theoretically explained by the proposed phenome- on of enthaipy-entropy compensation. The applicability of this theory and data that support it have been discussed by Labuza.™ Mathematical models that incorporate the effect of a as an addtional parameter can be used for shel ie predictions of moisture- Sensitive foods. Also, ASLT. methods have been wsed to predict Sheltie in normal conditions based on data collected in high: temperature and bigh-humidty condition” For example, Fig. 4 Shows that semilog plot of seltlife Gin this ease the hal-life of ‘parte ina formulated model system) vs water activity also ives & ‘Seaight ine. This then allows one fo we higher a, valves to project to thellfe at ower a, values. ‘Such predictions can be applied to packaged foods in conjunction ‘with mofstute tansfer models developed on the bai of the properties ‘OF the food and the packaging materials. In packaged foods there txints a dynam state of mostute exchange withthe envconment th tends fo equilibrate the food's a, with the external relative humiity. The moisture transport models slow the computation of the ax ofthe {ood with time, depending on the ambient relative humidity and temperature, the barrier properties ofthe selected package and thePo. Hato pie oak be ent cin fw moisture isotherm ofthe food.” Knowledge of the temperature and a ‘ales in tur can be used in a computer mode! to estimate the loss of {quslty and the shelf-life of the food/package system under any istcbution or storage conditions, Thus, tests to study the effect of ‘ilerent packaging materials on the food and select the optimum tonfiguration are not really needed a8 long as the foods deteoration Kneis are known along withthe moisture permeability ofthe film. ‘Gas composition is an additional factor that may play 2 significant role in some quality lost reactions. Oxygen availability is very important for oxidative reactions and can affect both the rate and ‘apparent order of reaction depending upon whether itis imiting or in fences Italo affects the respiration rates and senescence of plant Imaterials and microbial growth depending on the redox potential ‘Vacuum packaging and nitrogen Mashing ere based on slowing down undesirable reactions by limiting the availabilty of oxygen. Further, the presence and relative amount of other gases, especially carbon toxde, strongly affect biological and microbial reactions in fresh meat, fand fruit and vegetables. The mode of action of CO, has not been Completely elucidated but’ i partly connected "with surface ‘edifcaton® Diferent commodities have diferent optimum O.~ CO;-N, gas composition requirements for maximum shelF-ife. Excess {003 in many eases detrimental. Other important gases are ethylene ‘nd’ earbon monoxide (CO). Controlled and motifed atmosphere pockaging, i based on there principles. Ideally, by selecting a Prceing and Sh ie ” packaging material with the desirable permeance properties, the ‘oncenttation of gases and the RET inside the package can be kept ‘within predictable mits determined by the conditions set at process ing. Gas transport model that incorporate the oxygen uptake and CO; [generation by the food allow the calculation of packaging tequire- ments, Unfortunately very few, if any, polymer fms satisfy the Fequtements for both O, and’ CO, control, Alternatively, at ‘control can be exerted through the wie of enzymatic or chemical feavenges, a novel approach.” They canbe added tothe system in the form of sachets or integrated in the packaging material. A comprehen sive review of CAP/MAP foods technology as well as the kinetic ‘methods 10 predict their selP-ife is given by Labuza & Breene.*” Quality Indies: Sensory versus Instrumental Evaluation Inthe previous sections the approaches to modeling quality loss of {ood prodoct were outlined. A important requirement for obtaining a reliable model was in all cases the definition of an appropriate index that measures or directly corresponds to food qu ‘Sensory evaluation by a trained panel usually gives a good estimate ‘of the overall quality state ofa food. Most sensory tests are designed to foveal, at a certain level of probability, that a product has changed ‘or has reached the end of its ShelPife(dtflerence tests). Hence they five ‘end-point information and do not allow for modeling quality loss ‘ith time. Thus, one ean construct a shel-ife plot, if esting has been Performed at diferent temperatures, and estimate an activation energy ‘alu fr the temperature-dependence of the time I takes to teach the fend of shel-life. A usual approach is to asign the zero-time value a5 100% and the end of shelfife as 0% quality; then the times between correspond proportionally 10 diferent levels of quality. This is based ‘onthe assumption thatthe sensory response is linear with time, which ‘often not tue ‘A somewhat diferent approach isto attempt to model the progres- sive los of overall quality characteristics, using a graded hedonic Seale. If hedonic testing is properly conducted, the value of the perception y can be ased asa quality index and plotted against time t ‘An equation of the type given in Table 1 can possibly be established nd the rest of the methodology described ia the previous sections applied. However, for hedonic testing, the requirements on the ‘sensory panel for uniformity, experience and sie ae stricter than for the dilerence tests and often these requirements are not met, resulting,in unreliable results, There. are other problems concerning. this approach. There is considerable dificuly in establishing a meaningful feale for each food produc An expert panel is not necessarily feprsentative of consumers, let alone diferent consumer segments [Even if that assumption can be made, a cutof{ level of acceptably has to be decided upon, The time at which a large (but pres) percentage of panelist judge the food as being at or beyond that level the end of shelf-life. A criterion like that inludes an indication of the proportion of the consumers to which the product most be fecepable until the end of shelf-life, another variable upon which reference of agreement is required ‘The dierent statistical and graphical approaches for using sensory ata in shele-lie testing were evaluated by Labuza & Schmid The ‘maximum likelihood graphical procedure (Weibull method), which is widely wed inthe chemical and pharmaceutical industries but has been searcly used for food, was dewribed st a good systematic tpproach to sensory testing. Figure 5 shows an example of a Weibull, Hieard plot fr the estimation of quality Tos ia cereal product. The ‘Webull method is simple in that it asks only "Is the product ‘cceptale’” The intensity of testing it inceased near the end of shelf so that a true shel is determined. "Besides the practical problems with regards to using sensory data in shell-ife modeling, further factors ate the high cost that is involved STORAGE UFE orate Ce a 26 has "ere ‘penne “tite. (Adapeed from hutien degradation could reach unacceptable levels while the food is ‘till judged organolepially acceptable, Sensory data are not ‘objec. tive” enough for regulatory purpores and in cases of legal action or Aispute. Sometimes consumers can be ‘tained’ to accept lower Standard products by being exposed to products of gradually lipping ‘quality. That makes the need for alternative ways of assessing quality pparent.” ‘Chemical, microbiological and physical tests are being wsed widely in the study of food quality. Characteristics used by the consumer for Caluation ofa product, suchas favor, color and textural properties, ‘an be measured instrumentally oF chemically. Careful evaluation of the chemical and biological reactions and phyial changes that ccc in the food during and after processing, based on the accumlated knowledge in food science, allows the recognition ofthe ones that are most important to is safety, Integrity and overall qualty.* Physco ‘chemical oF microbiological parameters can be used 10 evaluate ‘quality. The values ofthese patameters canbe coreated with sensory Tesults forthe same food anda limit that coresponds t0 the lowest ‘acceptable organoleptic quality can beset. In Fig. 6 the los of vitamin 6 Plt of ime rah cet en of iin an se sph es pet Ly ey rn Sngo ‘Theodore P. Labuze & Pee 8. Takis Cin frozen spinach and end ofshelfife based on sensory quality are plotted verses temperature. It can be seen that about 22% loss ofthe Fitamin corresponds to the end of the sheiife. However, cation Thould be exercised over the fact that cortelation of values of individual chemical parameters with sensory data is often not straight forward because overall otganolepic quality is a composite of a ‘numberof changing factors * The relative contribution of each factor to the overall quality may be diferent at diferent levels of quality or in diferent storage conditions ‘There ate a number of publications that can serve as sources of finformation on food quality loss Kinetics and shelf-life of foods. ‘Recommended comprehensive sources are: Shel/-Life Dating of Foods (Labiza, 1982);""Handbook of Food and. Beverage Stability (Charalambous, 1986)" Physical ond Chemical Properes of Food (Oks, 1986). FACTORS IN ‘SCALING UP’ SHELF-LIFE DATA “Another problem in shelP-life testing relates to whether the samples ‘sed in the teat willbe representative of the actual product which wil be made. It obvious that one cannot test the real final product, ‘daring the RAD stage because that product has not been produced yet ‘on a regular bass inthe processing plant. Thus, several factors come into play which wil create a large (but unknown) window on the fue shelf ofthe produc. ‘One major factor willbe int ingredients are Bought in bulk, the greater the possiblity that they wll degrade over time in storage at the procestors' level and thus Teduce final shel of the finished product. Another factors processing conditions. If the shelfife must be known early inorder fo make marketing decisions, then the test product will be made in the laboratory of pilot plant. Thus, the conditions of time/ temperature/ming, tc., to which the ingredients will be sub- jected wil be diferent from those conditions for the final industrial proces Generally the larger the volume the longer it takes to reach, ulm conditions and thus the product has greater chance of, ‘degradation. For many situations the 2° rule holds: if the vesel ameter increaes, and given al else remains the same, it wil take [r+ As) times longer to reach the same temperature condition, fe fy= 186), for increasing by 25%, 5 = 4%, for x doubling in size Proce nd She %s ‘Ths same rule applies to difsion, i.e. moisture gain or oss, Thus the proces takes away valuable real shefife which wil not be known if the testing is done on product made in the laboratory or plot plant. SHELF LIFE AND OPEN-DATING REGULATIONS ‘Another driving force for shelPlife testing is a lepat one. Many {government organizations hae stipulated that certain foods must have Some typeof open date, Ths has been reviewed by the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment™ and summarized as an IFT status summary.” These dates may include the following (@) Pack date: This can be the actual date the product was processed and packaged and lets the consumer know how old the ‘selection judgement can be made. However, for ‘ck date can be confusing. For example, orange Ice which seasonal may be concentrated and frozen In bulk tanks. Its ater thawed and put into consumer packages. What i the pack date? Fish when caught and kept ina boat-hold immediately begin 10 ‘eterornte. Ifa boat stays out for 7-10 days, how do we determine ‘when an individual sh was caught? Is the catch date the pack date? (@) Sellby dae: In” some US states and in some European counties" many perishable processed foods require a sellby date. It is dear that this date is just a qualified gues, usualy based on prior txperience. Abused product will sil have the same date as unabused product and thus the consumer could et unacceptable product. One ‘ould mark al prodvets withthe date based on the worst posible Ingredient processing/dstibution condition but that means. much {fod product would be discarded on the basis ofa given sellby date. ‘One could aso se a Sll-by date but tel the consumer it is good for certain additonal number of days, weeks, etc. In fact, unless the true Compositional (C)) and environmental (E, factors are known, the dat ‘only an estimate and might be a poor one. This would be tre for all fother types of dates to be divested. It should be noted that re ‘market personnel prefer a selby date co help them instock rotation rather than fra, firstout bass, The problem ie that consumers pick over and choose the youngest foods, thinking they are getting high quality, and ths defeat the rotation system. (@) Useby date! The sellby date with a warning to consume in x days ofa actual “se-by date’ are other approaches that canbbe used, In addition some companies state a ‘feeze-by date’ which sours the customer of fonger shellife beyond the “use-by’ date ‘Consumes look at use-by dats as ‘death’ dates ie after that day the food i inedible or unsafe. With foods that have @ shor shelf-life (e.. milk) in which the route to end ofshel-ife isan increasing logarithmic function as would occur with microbial spoilage, the shelF-fe can be sated mathematically a: N nv nk, 13) ign 3) ‘were Nf the number of microbes at time f, k= In2/G, with G the ‘Organism generation time and. Ny the intial microbial” population. ‘When N reaches Nj, the level a which organoleptic unaceptability focus, the food i spoiled. This is around 10fu/ml (cfe=colony forming units). "hs seen in Fig. 7, the me to reach that number aprees with the lower reported times for end of shelllife; also it has the same temperatire dependence asthe average line forthe sensory end of thelllife Sine prowth is rapid, foods like milk do 'expice™ within a tery arrow window of time’ [usally+12h], However, for long Shlttfe foods such as canned vegetables or ready-to-eat cereals there java much wider window for when they become unacceptable. The SHELE LIFE doa STORAGE TEMPERATURE () ‘ho. 1. End fst of pacar mk ere! erage enprty cmes ‘Som sa it se there The te he pecheepie “ht coat rah eae sopermpne. Proce and Sh fe ” above equation alo relates shelFlife tothe quality factors introduced taller; Ny is dependent on ingredient selection and contol as well as fon processing while fy is function of compositional factors such as fay nutiens and. pH as well as cavironmental factors such as peteentage RH, temperature and gas composition that can change ‘ith packaging and distribution. The final quality level, Ny can only be found, however, by testing the food under given conditions and felating the microbial level to some sensory score. In many cases the sensory quality and time 10 end of shel-ife have different Qyy values asin Fig 3, making quality prediction dificult. (d) Bes ifased-by date: Given the Tac that some products will have ‘window on time with respect to acceptability, another approach i to use 2 “bestifusedby' date, which is similar to the EEC date of ‘minimum durability”. This is good for produets which deteriorate more slowly and are not subject to dramatic extremes in distribution, ts been wsed in the USA for canned foods, cereals and salad dressings This date is also subject to the same caveats discused cater Since cach type of open dating has some disadvantages, it has been proposed by the Ofce of Technology Asessment ofthe US Congress (OTA) that a combination of two dates as well as information on home storage conditions would be the most appropriate. For example, “best if used within x days of date stamped on the package” gives the food reales a “ly date (te date stamped) and date forthe consumer's guidance.” A’ step further would be similar to. the “approach that was adopted by the United Kingdom in 1964, and by other European counties, for frozen food storage. The marking’ system required “home-frezer manufacturers 10 mat tilerent components of the equipment according to the temperature they maintain. The same symbols were used in frozen food packaging ‘with the recommended storage time at each condition." An example fof two Danish products labeled with the star system is shown in Table 3 Tt i clear that, even if the most appropriate combination of open dating is employed and is used as suggested above, it falls short of ving any information onthe actual dstebution conditions and thus the real quality state of individual products. Significant waste of food ‘occurs inthe distbution chain tis very ditt to obtain an accurate fstimate of what this waste amounts to. The food industry has been* TheodoeP Labs & Pros. Tats ‘TABLE 3 Frozen Foods Labeled wt the ‘Star Sytem “Sarcode Average semper (°C) Remaining hel fe fer "rely date (dys) ized vegies French fries +5 1 05 % 4 3 2 rs rf ata a 0 very reluctant to disclose quantitative information on losses due to Tpoilege, let alone to finance relevant studies. A major report was published by the National Seience Foundation in 1979, under the ile Food Lasses and Wastes inthe Domestic Food Chain of the United ‘States. From this report, entimated losses daring distribution for four food categories ae sted in Table 4. The numbers in this table refer to tosses occurring from the time a product leaves its major processor or producer unlit enters the supermarket. Substantial losses can happen fbeequently Teall, what would be needed is a cost-effective way to monitor individually the conditions of the products throughout distribution and indicate. thet remaining shelC-fe, Such a system could lead to fective quality contol of the distibution, optimized stock rotation, eduction of waste and some meaningful information on product “freshness, much sought by the consumer. Time-tempersture in- ictors (UTI) ate a step towards this direction. TABLE 4 Food Lower ring Disibaton (Gource: Ret 1) Food ope Frozen fod Los (%) Pre nS fe » ‘TIME~TEMPERATURE INDICATORS. Generally time-temperature indicator (TTI) can be defined as a inple, inexpensive device that can show an casily-measurable, Time-tempersturedependent change that refects the full or pat temperature history of a (food) product to which it is attached. TTI ‘operation s based on mechanical, chemical enzymatic or microbiolo- (eal systems that change iereversbly from the time of ther activation ‘The rate of change i temperaturedependent, increasing at higher temperatures in a manner similar to most physicochemical reactions ‘The change is usually expressed a8 a visible response, inthe form of & ‘mechanical deformation, color development or color movement. The ‘sible reading thos obtained gives some information on the storage “Conditions that have preceded i. The ability of Ts to function 3s amulative recorders of temperature history from their activation time {o the time each response measurement is taken, makes them wseful {or two types of applications. "TTI can be used to monitor the temperature exposure of individual food packages, cartons or pallet loads daring distribution op 10 tine they are diplayed a the supermarket. By being attached ‘0 {nulvidul cases oF pallets they can give a measure of the preceding temperature conditions at each receiving point. These points would Serve as information gathering and decision-making. centers. The information. gathered from all stations could be used for overall ‘monitoring of the. distribution system, thus allowing for recognition land possible correction of the more problematic inks "Tue second type of TTT application involves their wse as quality monitors. With quality loss being a function of temperature Ristory {ind with TTT giving & measure of that history, their response can ‘presumably be coreated with the quality level ofthe food, If that can Be achieved, TT can be used in either (Or both) of two ways. Te fist ‘would be ay an inventory management and stock rotation tool atthe etal level The approach used presently is the firstin, first-out (FIFO) system, according to which products received fist and/or with the closest expiration date on the label are displayed and sold fist. ‘This approsct aims io establishing “steady state with all products being sold at the same quality level. The assumption is that all prodvcts have gone through uniform handling: thus quality is basically function of time. The use ofthe indicators can help to establishwo PreodortP Labasa & Pao. Toke or oun Fo. Dito of guiy of grat ina toro (rf upermae) rt ‘RipneaOo the velo aso ay. Wah the SFO em pode re ‘eed tog he dato tlt they echt iret ih IFO aed pros ‘nay hve ce sacra (nnd en) a ae ped oF. system that does not depend on this unrealistic assumption. The ‘objective will again be the reaching ofa steady state situation with the least remaining shelfite products being old first. Tis approach ould be coded LSFO (least shelPlife, frst out), The LSFO system ‘ould theoreialy (although it has not een proven) reduce rejected products and eliminate consumer dissatisfaction since the fraction of product wth anaceeptable quality sent nto the distribution system will ‘bereiminated, ar seen in Fig. 8, Secondly, TT attached to individual pckaged prodacts can serve as dynamic or active shelt-life labeling Instead of (orn conjunction with) open-dat labeling. The TTT would tsure the consumers thatthe products were properly handled and ‘would indicate remaining shelie, Use of TTT as “consumer in- ‘ator isthe ultimate goal ofthese systems. ‘A variety of TTI based on diferent physicochemical principles has been described by Byrne” and Singh & Wells” Statistical correlations fof TTI performance and product quality characteristics have been feporied for a varety of perishable and frozen foods." A general tpproach that allows the correlation of the response of a TTI tothe ualty changes of a food product of known deterioration modes, Shithout actual simultaneous testing ofthe indiator and the food, was ‘eveloped by Taoukis & Labuza."” The three types of TT commer- ‘ally available were mathematically modeled using Arrhenius kinetics, ‘One type bs based ona ime-temperaturedependent difsion of a dye slong & wick (IM Monitor Mark), the second on a change of color due {oa controled enzymatic reaction (Point TTM), and the third on Proce and Sh Le vo development of color based on a solidstate polymerization (Lifelines Freshness Monitor), A scheme was introduced that allows the corela- tion ofthe TTT response, X, to the quality index, A, of the food. X fa be expressed asa function of time: FOX) kt = heap EQ RT). a9 were F(X) i the response function ofthe TT, isthe time and k the Tesponse rate constant; the constant ky and the activation energy Ex tre the Arshenius parameters. Fora variable temperatre distribution, Ti), an effective temperature, Tig, is defined as the constant {emperatre that eases the same response of change asthe variable temperature T(). Similarly, a food quality function (A) such that (A) =e [the form of f(A) depends on the reaction order, asin Table 1] defined, For a TTT going through the same. temperature Aistbation, 7), asthe monitored food, the value of F(X), s known ftom the response Xj Taz can then be calculated from eqn (14) for T= Tag Tg and kage ofthe kinetic parameters of deterioration ‘ofthe food allows the evaluation of f(A) and hence the quality los of the product, The reliability of the TTI under variable temperature ‘conditions was also assessed and in general was judged satisfactory. ‘Two examples adapted from Taoukis & Labura"™ are shown her. Figure 9 shows the response of the 3M Monitor Mark for which Fe 8 Pt fhe ego enon FX) vet ine fr 2 TTT M Mone Mart) EP alti ete om re aeage ae of te fetpone fae ts‘TM (nou) {Gome), Sad tac ae the 95% condensin ad te Nk od ho te ‘reseed eponse 0 Sewn F(X) =X? (X is the distance traveled by the fusion front), indicating good adherence to the model at each temperature. Figure 10 shows the response of the same TTI held under a sinusoidal variable temperature going from 2 to 18°C. The agreement between the observed and the predicted response shows thatthe TTI is «good ‘monitor ofthe storage conditions. {Use of TTT on food products sstilin the exploratory stage, Part of the problem is that accurate shelClife characterization of the food products by the food manufacturers is for the most part mising. The Salve of auch information i becoming clearer with novel products of, prolonged shetlife such as extended shelfife refrigerated products ESLR). A second problem is that the TTL activation energy must be ‘within 5-10 kcal/mol (21-42kI/mol) of the activation energy ofthe food 10 be used ab distribution monitors” and much closer for a consumer tag. The available TTs limit the choice of E. Methods of ‘correcting the eror in quality los prediction caused by the diference in Eq ate cutrenly under development in out laboratory. third probiem i related to. the sovcalled “history effect” dscused by {Coburn It refers to the behavior of some foods that show a diferent reaction rate ats given temperature from the one predicted fom the ‘Arthenivs elation when they were previously. exposed to higher emperatures for various periods of time. This effect cannot be Proceed Sh fe we accounted for with TTIs that do not show a history effect. Microbial {romth is also dificult to monitor with TTIs. Microbes go through lag and tog phase on which the effect of temperature necds 19 be better characterized mathematically. Solutions to these problems combined with a better understanding of the TTI and lower cost makes the widespread use of TTIs a safe prediction for the near {ature Ideally the consumer ofthe 1990s will have an active shelf-life labeling assuring him of the quality of the food product. (Other alternatives to monitoring temperature during food distribu tion inciude the use of flexible, miniaturized electronic temperature recording devices” They can be as small at 2in? and are battery powered. They record time-temperature information that can be ‘Geplayed and processed at the receiving end by interfacing with a ‘microcomputer Examples of such devices are the Temp Mentor and Data Mentor (Ryan Instruments In., Redmond, WA, USA) and the Datatrace Micropack Tracer (Ball, Broomfield, CO, USA). Recently a satellite tracking sytem (Geostat Satelite Tracking Service, Geos Corp, Washington, DC, USA) was introduced 1t continuously ‘monitors location, time and temperature of relrigersted and frozen nation by truck, tracking shipments and transmitting per and customer via two geostationary satellites postioned 22 300 miles in space above the USA FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS “The drive to achieve higher-quality and extended shelf-life products will come close to realization inthe near future. The areas in which Improvement oF innovation wil conteibute to this goal in the 1990s are coulind below. (4) Improvement in analytical procedures and better understanding ‘of food quality factors flated to their organoleptic charac- (6) Jostintime ingredient supply to ensure high initial quality. This wil be coupled with optimized of novel processing to minimize ‘quality losses inthe finshed product. {o) ower cost-and larger selection of packaging materials with specified bartier properties for Os, HyO and COs, possibly in ‘conjunction with “inpackage” scavengers of these gates; also insulating packages.co Prodoe Pabasa & Pos 8. Taube (@) Education of scientists in food quality modeling and ASLT procedures; education ofthe marketing tector on the limitations Of ASLT. (@) Better food distribution contro. This will be based on electronic fof satelite temperature monitoring and eliale TTIs with Consumer readable end-points. Those TTIs will be designed 0 achieve any desired activation energy. Distribution data wil be {tabulated on 2 universal sale and will be avaiable on CD ROMS. Such information willbe used for acurate estimates of the expected shel fe of food products. In addition to temper ture, monitoring of exposure 10 relative humidity of moisture- fentive foods willbe incorporated. Combined ime temperatue/relative humidity indicators (TTI/RHI) can be developed that wil integrate quality loss of a food/packsge ‘jst exposed to variable temperature and RH conditions based on the computer models discussed. Even with use of all the mentioned distribution concepts for an ‘optimized distribution, especially of refrigerated products, a producer- ‘owned and -operatd system may stil be required, similar tothe ‘Cold ‘Chain’ of Marks & Spencer PLC in the UK-* ‘Soccesslul implementation ofthe above points wil give the 1990s ‘consumer food product of superior quality with the added con- ‘enience of extended shelf-life, REFERENCES |. Lawuza, T. Pe Shel-Life Dating of Foods, Food & Nut. Press, Wanton, Cr, USA, 182 2, Gactua: MC. J Food Sc, 4 (1975 388. 4B Ghcuca: MCG & Kumaea, i. ad St, 4 (190) 404 4, Sista eames My Food Telia 342) (9 783. 5. 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