Shelf life of products

[Xaleto]

I am starting a small baking bussiness and one of my main issues is shelf life of my products. Since I will start small I don't have to add much to the labels, but I would like to know what the shelf life will be. Any ideas of where to find informations on this. I will start by making biscotti containing butter which are less stable.

Any info will be much appreciated.

Xaleto

[Zukerig]

Two very comprehensive guides:

http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/processed-f...le/shelf-life/

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets...ting/index.asp

[cookieguy]

One of the key attributes of shelf-life will be your packaging materials. Besides your formulas and how you bake them, how will you wrap them? Butter cookies baked down to less than 3% moisture and then packed in an airproof package can last a year or two. Biscotti is baked way down (usually twice) and should have a very long shelf-life. You want moisture proof and oxygen restricting packaging material (with a very low MVTR - Moisture Vapor Tranmission Rate.) Foil is usually best. Look for a web site for Mobil food packaging systems for an idea.

Ambient moisture will kill your low moisture product in a matter of days. This is known as Aw or Moisture activity. Moisture will flow from high (the air) to low (your bicotti) always if not packed correctly.

[panini]

CG,
high to low outside the package, right?
I always struggle with the term shelf life. What is going to be the exact description of the biscotti when it has gone past shelf life. Taste? bacteria?looks?lab tests?
I have had a State and Fed manufacturing permit for foods. I finally realized that all the standards and codes, weights, and labels had nothing to do with quality. I feel the gray area is large. I don't dissagree with any of it. A great product packaged is ok, a crappy product packaged is garbage, regardless of shelflife.
Pan

[cookieguy]

Sort of - high to low through the package. A wrap may be able to hold water but it will not stop water vapor. The molecules are so small they will go right through the wrap. That's why crisp products with a long shelf life need a very low MVTR wrap. Foil or metallized film is best (I don't mean the foil you buy in the supermarket.) Buy a Twix or Milky Way bar or some potato chip bags - that kind of foil. The better see through wraps are OK too.

At the moisture level of a biscotti you don't have to worry about mold or bacteria. It won't grow. The shelf life is finished when you say it doesn't taste right anymore or when it absorbs too much water and seems stale. And the only way to find this out is to make enough, wrap it and taste it on a regular basis, maybe every two weeks or so. Biscotti should last at least 6 months, probably more. White bread will mold in about 10 days, it's obvious. Hearth breads might be past their best after 24 hours. Canned products are safe to eat for decades. Won't taste great after two years but are still safe to eat. Every product is different.

You're right. Government standards have nothing to do with quality. Quality is a very nebulous word. What quality is to you may not be to me and vice versa. Quality, from a manufacturing point of view, only means that the product was made exactly as it was designed. A product could be terrible yet be very high quality. Many major food manufacturers have been and are currently going through cost reductions due to commodity and transportation (fuel) pressures. Some favorite products you buy may not seem the same to you. That's because they aren't. Senior management rationalizes away the differences (it's as good as it was!!!), the formulas and process guides get changed but the reformulated crappy product is still very high quality (in their minds) because it meets the new parameters. This is corporate America.

But in your new business please make something that tastes good. We won't worry about what quality means.

[panini]

CookieGuy.
Are you manufacturing cookies and packaging? Just curious. You seemed well informed.
I basically gave up on the manufacturing permits because there was way too much administative work. Having labeling and igredient agreements on each property you delivered or shipped to. Checked each month. Non consistant iformation when it came down to State and city health inspections. I actually recieved negetives from each for complying to exact discrepincy. It seemed that they did not interperat the FDA guidelines the same. Plus having to use such additives as mold inhibitors to ship accross state lines.
Thanks for the responce,
Xaleto,
Good luck with your biscotti! We use the measure" if you wouldn't eat it or buy it or really enjoy it" then it's shelf life is over.
BTW Xaleto, years ago I went out and sought caterers that take my product at the end of each day to serve as their chef's choice desserts on pop-ups and events. Something to think about?

[Xaleto]

Thanks for all the info!

Obviously biscotti have a long shelf life, but I am also interested in producing other cookies as the selection in my area is awful, so I think there is a market for my products. Right now I am considering chellophane bags, later if the business grows, I will have to look into those foil bags.

Panini, I will consider contacting caterers too, that's a great idea.

Laura