Do Beverage Products Have to Include a Shelf Life?

For beverage brands, prioritizing product quality is essential to building consumer trust and meeting market expectations. One of the important factors in maintaining the quality of the product is its shelf life.

This is because consumers always look at the quality and safety of drink products when purchasing. In this case, you must conduct a shelf-life study and put the details on the product packaging. This not only fulfills regulatory requirements but also builds transparency and consumer confidence in your brand.

What is Beverage Shelf-Life and Why is it Important?

So, what exactly is the shelf life for beverages? It is the period during which a beverage maintains its intended quality and safety under specific storage conditions before any noticeable degradation occurs. Now, is it similar to the expiration date? Not really.

Unlike an expiration date, which indicates when a product should no longer be consumed, shelf life refers to the period during which a beverage can be stored and sold without significant loss of its taste, appearance, or nutritional value.

This information is crucial for both manufacturers and consumers. Clear shelf-life labeling can also reduce food waste by helping retailers manage inventory more effectively. For manufacturers,  rigorous testing is required to determine how long their product can maintain its quality.

Factors like ingredients used, packaging methods, and storage conditions all define the shelf-life. So, for consumers, this knowledge helps ensure that they receive drinks that meet quality standards from the moment they’re produced until they’re consumed.

What is a Beverage Shelf-Life Study?

A shelf-life study is an analytical technique used by manufacturers to assess the duration for which their product can maintain its quality under different conditions before it begins to degrade.

This process includes thorough testing to evaluate factors such as microbiology, flavour, appearance, levels of nutrients, and smell.

Unlike guessing or copying another product’s shelf life, a shelf-life study is tailored to the specific drink product. It considers the unique formulation, packaging, storage conditions, and more.

Manufacturers use this study to improve product quality, ensure consistency, and comply with regulatory standards. It also serves as a valuable marketing tool, demonstrating a brand’s commitment to delivering fresh, high-quality beverages. It helps in decide the best storage conditions and understand how different ingredients and packaging impact product stability.

What are the Factors Affecting Beverage Shelf Life

Ever wondered why some beverages stay fresh longer than others? Let’s break down the key factors that influence shelf life.

Intrinsic Factors

Intrinsic factors are inherent qualities within the drink product that influence its shelf life. These may include:

• Water activity
• pH level
• Moisture
• Salt
• Sugar
• Nutrition
• Oxidation potential

Extrinsic Factors

On the other hand, extrinsic factors are external conditions that can be controlled or modified to extend shelf life, such as:

• Time (storage duration). Proper rotation systems, such as FIFO (First In, First Out), help manage storage time effectively and maintain product freshness.
• Temperature
• Packaging material
• MAP (Modified Atmospheric Packaging)
• Processing method
• Chemical preservatives

Processing Methods

This is one of the extrinsic factors that is often used to eliminate bacteria and prevent pathogens. The technique examples are:

• Smoking
• Curing
• Pasteurization
• UHT (ultra-high temperature). This method significantly extends shelf life while preserving most of the product’s nutritional value.
• Fermentation

Product Formulation

The formulation of ingredients is pivotal in determining shelf life, especially for a beverage. Here are two main formulations affecting:

• Water activity

In this case, sugars and salts act as natural preservatives by binding water and inhibiting microbial growth.

• Additives (chemical preservatives)

Meanwhile, chemical additives like antioxidants and acidity regulators (e.g., citric acid) extend shelf life by preventing oxidation and microbial spoilage.

Storage and Transportation

Proper handling during storage and transportation is critical to preserving a product, including drinks.

For example, maintaining consistent temperatures during transit and storage prevents fluctuations that can accelerate spoilage. Temperature loggers and monitoring systems can be used to ensure compliance with cold-chain requirements throughout transportation. Chilled products must stay cold, while frozen products need to remain frozen to prevent microbial activity.

Packaging

To extend a product’s shelf life, proper packaging is needed. Innovations like aseptic packaging and biodegradable materials are gaining popularity for extending shelf life while reducing environmental impact. Examples of commonly used packaging that is good for drink products include sealed plastics and cans.

Read About: Shelf Life of Pharmaceuticals: Ensuring Safety and Efficacy

How to Conduct a Beverage Shelf-Life Study

So, how do companies ensure their products stay fresh and safe over time? The answer is through a shelf-life analysis.

As explained before, this study is a meticulous process that involves scientific testing to determine how long a drink product can maintain its quality under various conditions. Let’s break down the steps involved:

Check Formula and Storage Conditions

The first step is to thoroughly review the product formula and the conditions under which it will be stored and transported. This assessment should also account for seasonal variations in climate, which can impact product stability during distribution. This review ensures that the testing accurately reflects real-world scenarios.

Whether it’s a small-scale pilot production or a full-scale run, the samples must mimic actual production conditions to avoid errors in scaling up.

This is because factors like ingredients, packaging types, temperature exposure during storage and handling, and expected consumer use after opening affect how long the product will last.

Identify Safety and Quality Factors

After identifying the baseline with the formula and storage requirements, the next step is to identify critical factors related to safety and quality. This includes setting standards for microbiological safety, organoleptic (sensory) properties such as taste and aroma, and nutritional content. Regular testing during the product’s shelf life ensures these standards are consistently met.

Regulatory requirements for labeling claims, like nutritional values that might degrade over time, also need consideration. Testing protocols must adhere to accredited methods to ensure reliability and compliance with industry standards.

Testing Methods

There are two primary methods used in drink product shelf-life studies. Both involve microbiological analysis and sensory testing to ensure that the product meets quality standards throughout its intended shelf life. Here’s the detail:

• Direct method

This involves real-time studies where the beverage is stored under typical market conditions, and its properties are monitored over specific intervals. Although highly accurate, this method requires more time to produce results.

• Accelerated method

To speed up the process, this method alters environmental factors like temperature and pressure to simulate the effects of ageing more quickly than usual. This method is faster but may introduce slight inaccuracies.

Analyze Results and Set Shelf Life

Then, once testing is complete, the final step is to analyze the results and decide on the shelf lifetime.

The analysis verifies that the product remains safe, maintains its quality, and meets all regulatory and consumer expectations from production to consumption and beyond the labeled expiry date. Periodic revalidation of shelf life is recommended, especially when there are changes in formulation, packaging, or processing methods.

Also, don’t forget to put the shelf life and expiry date on your beverage’s packaging to ensure consumers can see the information. This means you need a proper printing machine. See a complete list of thermal inkjet printers here.

References

https://www.mydrinkbeverages.com/does-your-beverage-need-a-shelf-life-study#:~:text=A%20beverage’s%20shelf%20life%20is,%E2%80%9Cbest%2Dby%E2%80%9D%20dates.

https://www.foodresearchlab.com/blog/how-much-can-you-increase-shelf-life-of-products/

https://eng.alimentossas.com/blog/food-industry/shelf-life

https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/understanding-factors-affecting-shelf-life/#factors