The Shelf-Life Equation and Code Dating

There are a lot of components that contribute to the amount of time a product is wholesome and safe to consume, and they vary by product category.

Commercially sterile products that are canned are safe virtually for perpetuity provided that the packaging is intact and not compromised in any fashion. The quality of the contents can certainly be impacted (case in point, an undiscovered can of condensed milk that was several years past its shelf life had turned a beautiful caramel color but was just as functional and delicious when used in a fudge recipe). In the case of canning, the process delivers the lethality blow to destroy all the harmful bacteria, hence the term "commercially sterile".

The Shelf-Life Formula

When it comes to limited shelf-life items such as fresh or ready to eat meat, poultry and dairy, the shelf-life formula = incoming bacterial load + time + temperature + sanitation + any microbial inhibiting ingredients/process. Let's break this down.

Starting Clean

Starting clean is essential to every food production process; if it's not clean to start with, it's not going to get any better. Operational sanitation throughout the production run cannot be overlooked. Do you ensure PPE is changed out or cleaned/sanitized as frequently as needed to prevent adding to the bacterial load? A common practice in RTE operations is to have routine intervals for those touching products to wipe down product contact areas with sanitizer (at approved levels!) as well as their gloves, aprons, and sleeves.

Incoming Bacterial Load

Next, what's the incoming bacteria load of the raw materials? If it's refrigerated, temperature control and age are critical parts of this equation. If those fresh items are going to be heat treated sufficiently to destroy the bacterial load, what is the exposure of that product after cooking? If it's cooked in bag ala sous vide, then there's no exposure, but it's still not commercially sterile and will have a distinct shelf life. Appendix A (and Appendix B) from USDA-FSIS provide excellent time/temperature parameters to ensure product safety for cooking and chilling as both are designed to eliminate 6.5-log10 or 7-log10 (650,000 or 1,000,000 bacteria) reduction of Salmonella and prevent outgrowth of Sporeformers like B. cereus. If it's fresh beef trim that is going to be ground for hamburgers for the grill, shelf life is more limited and even more dependent upon sanitation, time and temperature.

Ingredients and Process

Ingredients and process are parts of the equation as they can impact the pH and water activity, suppress the growth of certain bacteria (Listeria inhibitors are a primary example), and in the case of some processes, such as High-Pressure Pasteurization post packaging, deliver a lethal blow.

Determining Shelf Life

And how is shelf life determined? It's most often a combination of microbial levels, proximate & chemical shifts, and overall product performance. Back to that can of condensed milk — still safe years after its best before, but not at the peak of quality.  

WISEcode scientists go beyond generic shelf-life estimates to deliver science-backed confidence in your products. Our experts work with you to understand your formulation, packaging, processing conditions, and intended distribution channels, then design a customized shelf-life testing strategy tailored to your specific goals. Whether you’re validating a new product, responding to reformulation, or substantiating a “best before” date, we help translate complex data into clear, actionable decisions.

WISEcode offers both Real-Time and Accelerated Shelf Life Studies—giving you flexibility without compromising accuracy. Real-time studies provide the gold standard for understanding true product behavior over time, while accelerated studies use controlled stress conditions to generate reliable insights faster, helping you move forward with confidence when timelines are tight. Together, these approaches offer the most effective, efficient path to determining shelf life while balancing safety, quality, and performance expectations.

Sharon K. K. Beals

Food Safety & Regulatory Executive, WISEcode Labs

How WISEcode Labs Supports Your Business

WISEcode Labs brings comprehensive analytical capabilities to support every dimension of your shelf-life program. Beyond microbial testing, our chemical and physical analyses evaluate the key factors that directly impact product quality over time. We measure moisture content and water activity — two of the most critical drivers of both microbial growth and chemical degradation — ensuring your products meet target specifications from production through end of shelf life. Elevated water activity can accelerate oxidation, enzymatic reactions, and spoilage, while moisture migration in multi-component products can compromise texture, stability, and safety.

For nutraceutical, supplement, functional food, and produce manufacturers, we offer vitamin and mineral stability testing to verify that label claims remain accurate throughout the product's intended shelf life. Vitamins such as C, B-complex, D, and E are particularly susceptible to degradation from heat, light, moisture, and oxidation, and our protocols are designed to detect even subtle losses over time. We also analyze botanical ingredient integrity, tracking the degradation of active plant compounds that can be impacted by storage conditions, processing, and packaging. Whether you're working with herbal extracts, phytonutrients, antioxidant-rich ingredients, or mineral-fortified products, WISEcode Labs can help you build a complete chemical stability profile that supports your label claims, satisfies regulatory requirements, and protects your brand throughout the product's life cycle.

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