The term “shelf life” refers to the amount of time a product stays stable when maintained under the manufacturer’s suggested parameters. In order to fulfil rigorous requirements and keep their brand and consumers safe, food producers must properly calculate the use by or best by dates for their products.

Shelf-life is defined as “the period of time that a food product is regarded suitable for consumption when held at the right storage conditions” by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF).

A product’s shelf life begins when the product is finished processing and packed. The time required is determined by elements such as the ingredients, production method, packaging, and usual storage conditions. To determine shelf life, two types of tests are used: real-time stability tests and accelerated shelf life testing.

It should be emphasised that, in the food and medicine sectors, regulatory organisations acknowledge accelerated ageing data as a legitimate method of fast generating data, but this data is only approved until those tests can be connected to “real time” samples. Accelerated ageing is a very valuable technology in different sectors for product testing and understanding product limits.

Accelerated shelf life forces the environmental conditions to be more severe in order to shorten the needed test duration. This is accomplished by using the Arrhenius equation to calculate the rate of time acceleration as temperatures rise. Accelerated ageing employs heightened circumstances of heat, humidity, vibration, and other environmental stimuli to aid in determining the long-term consequences of predicted levels of stress in a much shorter time frame. To assist evaluate shelf-life and storage performance, these tests cycle through phases of applied stressors, forcing materials to behave as they would during a lengthy period of storage or transportation.

Accurate shelf life estimates are dependent on accurate testing findings. EMTS  Stability Testing Services provide the creative engineering and design, sturdy construction, and outstanding performance required to meet and surpass these standards.