The important of evaluating stability/shelf life

Folder Product Stability and Shelf Life Evaluation
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Last Updated 27/05/2022

1. The important of evaluating stability/shelf life

Expiry date, being manufacturer's commitment to the customer, is the point that the goods will have been not allowed to circulate in the market. In addition, when products are distributed on the market, some products are required to label their expiry date, such as foodstuffs, food additives, cosmetics, medicinal materials, animal feeds, plant seeds, fertilizers, etc,. Therefore, in all of nations, when a new product into market is launched into the market, beside other relevant studies, shelf life studies nees to be conducted to label on product.

According to Decree 43/2017/ND-CP, shelf life is defined as the period after that the goods or the batches of good are no longer retaining all their origin properties.

The shelf life of a product is fully explained as the period established under the expected conditions of distribution, storage, retail, and utilization that the product remains technical quality.

The shelf-life evaluation is to define the time at which the product has been changed in chemistry, deterioration when stored in the recommended conditions over storage and distribution.

The important of evaluating stability/shelf life

Food products shelf-life labelling (image)

2. Evaluation the shelf life of products at the National Institute for Food Control

In order to obtain accurately the expire date, it is necessary to regularly and continuously monitor the quality of products under market storage conditions from the initial manufacturing time to the time of disqualification.

For a short life cycle product such as fresh food, fruits, cakes..., it is not difficult to monitor and evaluate the expiry date. However, it is more complex to determine expiry date for long – life span products such as powdered milk, frozen meat, soft drinks, etc… while the products need to be launched on the market as soon as possible. Therefore, it requires a faster method for manufacturers and company to save money and time to balance between the profit and loss.

The national institue for Food Control can be operate the following conditions to evaluate expire date.

Conditions		Kind of products
Freeze	-15oC	Frozen meat, frozen fish,…
Chill	4 – 8oC	Vegetable, fruits, milks, cheese,…
Normal	25oC, humidity: 60%	Packaged food: candies, cookies, supplements,…
Accelerated	40oC, humidity: 75%	For purpose of shortening investigating time
Other conditions following customers’ enquiry and specific products

- Equipment: In order to evaluate the shelf life of products, the National Institute for Food control has equipped freezers, refrigerators, microclimate cabinets, etc, to ensure almost investigating conditions

Microclimate cabinets for accelerated shelf-life testing (image)

Microclimate cabinets for accelerated shelf-life testing (image)

3. Reasons for choosing the National Institute for Food Control

National Institute for Food Control is the national key laboratory in food science.
National Institute for Food Control includes laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for food quality control.
National Institute for Food Control has been nominated by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as an official unit serving the governmental management of food safety, animal feed, fertilizer.
National Institute for Food Control is a member of ASEAN standardized laboratory system for food quality control.
National Institute for Food Control is a member in groups of AOAC international laboratories performing interlaboratory validation.