How does the food industry know the expiration date?
I always have this question in mind whenever I see the EXP date on different products. I wonder how they can know a chocolate bar will spoil after 1 year or 6 months, and why they have such longer shelf life time compared to homemade chocolate bars, for example.
Best Answer
Just to clarify:
"Expiration dates" (or sometimes "Best if used by" dates) are the dates when a product may no longer be of high quality. It is not a safety indicator. It is a quality indicator, and it is just a guideline.
Companies determine expiration dates during storage studies or stability tests. More detail can be found here.
The reason why manufactured food items often last longer than home-prepared items is that companies add ingredients to prolong shelf life. This is simply for economic reasons. You could add the same ingredients, but it is often not necessary because of the scale of home cooking.
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Quick Answer about "How does the food industry know the expiration date?"
To do this, temperatures are raised causing food to begin decomposing at a faster rate. Once the food has reached an unsafe level, the data is collected, and an algorithm is used to determine the shelf life of the product at a normal temperature.How do food manufacturers determine expiration dates?
Smaller companies may list a date on their product based on the length of shelf life they have estimated their competitors are using, or they may use reference materials or ask food safety experts for advice on the date to list on their product.How does the FDA determine expiration dates?
Drug expiration dates reflect the time period during which the product is known to remain stable, which means it retains its strength, quality, and purity when it is stored according to its labeled storage conditions. 2. How are expiration dates established?How true are expiration dates on food?
The dates solely indicate freshness, and are used by manufacturers to convey when the product is at its peak. That means the food does not expire in the sense of becoming inedible. For un-refrigerated foods, there may be no difference in taste or quality, and expired foods won't necessarily make people sick.How do you determine expiry date?
Food Expiration Dates: What to KnowHow Are Expiration Dates Determined ? Are they just suggestions?
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Answer 2
There are few expressions that are not interchangeable:
Best before - It's about quality not safety. After that date the food is still good for consumption but the taste and/or texture might change. It's used for example in chocolate with "creamy stuffing". After B date the inside might not be creamy.
Use by - A "final" date for a product to be eaten OR used in other dish (than it then prolong it's life if it was thermically changed). So a product can be opened (and stored in fridge) for two weekes before it's "use by" date and it will act the same as same product with same date but opened two days prior.
Expiration - date after which food (or medicine) decline in quality in a way it can be harmful to consume. (This is for EU legislation. In USA this might be interchangeable with best before).
Those dates are established by studies and by calculations. There are preservatives, that added in A quantity to B quantity product extend it XXXX life by YYY amount of time.
It's also calculated with "worst case scenario" in mind. So with the assumption that on delivery line some quality might be loss (for example you buy food from fridge and carry it to home in 20ºC/70ºF for an our home).
There is also time when content start reacting with it container. An EXP/ best before date on plastic bottle of water don't mean the water goes bad but the reaction inside might change the water taste or values (if it's mineralized for example).
Answer 3
I assume they are doing lot of laboratory analysis and testing and experiment whilst preparing the industrial recipes.
They will test the product a different dates to see how well it behaves, check if there are molds, pathogens ... ie. if it is safe to eat.
Depending on what they want, they will either change the recipes to get a required expiration date ( I want my cookies to last 3 months) or change the expiration date (those cookies last 1 month)
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