Predicting Packaged Food Shelf Life

摘要

Food products conceived and developed by food marketers, scientists, and technologists only rarely can remain identical from laboratory bench or production line through to the target consumers. Only an infrequent few food products survive the distribution process to maintain or display improved quality. That period during which the product retains its desired properties usually has been designated as shelf life, and the proper measure of this somewhat unscientific and certainly imprecise term is by the target consumer. Perhaps because of the paucity of quantitative data on the complex, interacting, stress-induced changes, some purists denigrate the notion of measurement and prediction of "shelf life." Commercial interests often dictate a time and demand that the technology fit the market desires―hence, the not-infrequent arbitrary "one-year" time frame for many "shelf-stable" foods.