Abstract

Shelf life is an important attribute of all foods, which includes raw materials, ingredients, and finished products. It is the time during which the food product will remain safe, will retain its desired sensory, chemical, physical, and microbiological characteristic; comply with any label declaration of nutritional data; and above all will be acceptable to the consumer.Shelf life determination is required to understand basic food science and technology including food processing, food analysis and food packaging. These studies must be carried out only when foods are correctly processed, packed, stored, and ready for consumption. The end of shelf life is determined by relevant food legislation, guidelines given by enforcement authorities or agencies, current industrial best practice; self-imposed end-point assessment; and information from market. The presentation will be covering the benefits of conducting shelf life studies, factors affecting the shelf life study, different types of shelf life studies with some examples.