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Stability Study Prediction of Shelf-Life and Storage Stability for Fried Snacks Problem: A snack food producer is interested in increasing the shelf life of a fried snack chip. They feel that using active filtration will provide this benefit, but do not have the resources to conduct full-scale storage studies on a range of products. Is there a way to accomplish this? Background: Whenever a food processor considers making a change to a product, be it a formulation change, a process modification, or a package modification, the research and development staff must first determine how this change will affect the product. Among the parameters that are evaluated are flavor and aroma, physical and chemical specifications, and shelf life. A common means for determining whether "new" products differ from the "old" is the sensory panel. In well-run companies, there must be no statistical difference between product that results from the change, and the current product. Also, new products must always be compared to a known standard. Comparing each new generation to the previous generation's product can result in a product that eventually is completely different from the original "standard". There is one problem with sensory analysis, however. It is expensive and time consuming. As an example, the snack food producer referred to here would have to conduct analyses on existing and new products throughout the life of the product. The more variables, the more sensory work needed. Solution: Being able to reduce the number of variables in any study reduces the cost of the study and allows researchers to narrow their focus. Libra Laboratories has developed a program to predict shelf life for snack foods and other fried products. This program was developed using a trained sensory panel and relating their findings to the chemistry of food and frying oil. This database has evolved to the point where certain key chemical components can be used as shelf-life predictors. Measuring these components provides insight into which variables will fail, allowing the elimination of undesirable products and bringing focus to those that look promising. Benefits: Libra's shelf-life prediction program can save time and money when evaluating new snack food formulations, processes, and packaging. Using our new technology, which relates objective chemical and physical measurement to sensory ones, we can assist Research and Development to make more efficient use of research resources. The investment in this kind of product/process/packaging knowledge more than pays for itself in better product distribution contol; fewer product failures and losses; and better insights for future product development/modification efficiencies.
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