Fødevarers holdbarhed – shelf life – er et udfordrende emne at håndtere, og der er flere interesser at tage i betragtning når produkternes holdbarhed fastlægges. Naturligvis er fødevaresikkerheden højeste prioritet ligesom det som udgangspunkt er vigtigt for producenterne at kunne levere produkter med en lang holdbarhed. Omvendt er det også vigtigt, at forbrugeren udover et sikkert produkt, også får en oplevelse af at produktet er friskt. Men hvad er frisk og kan noget, der er gammelt være frisk? Hvordan spiller spild versus holdbarhedstid ind og hvad er vigtigt for forbrugerne? Dette plus meget mere sætter dagsordenen for virksomhedernes politikker og arbejde på området ”Shelf life”. Størstedelen af dagens program vil fokusere på produkterne og de muligheder der er for enten at fastlægge eller forlænge holdbarheden på mejeriprodukter ved hjælp af positiv mikrobiologi, processer eller andre tiltag, som stabiliserer produkterne.
Hovedparten af præsentationsmaterialet er udformet på engelsk og en del af indlæggene præsenteres på engelsk. Det fremgår af markering ved det enkelte indlæg om præsentationssproget er engelsk.
The major part of the presentations are elaborated in English and will be screened in English. English-spoken presentations are indicated in the programme.
How fresh is fresh?
The shelf life of dairy products is a challenging topic to handle for the dairy companies. Of course, long shelf life is important for the dairies, the retailers and the supermarkets. Long shelf life means reduced costs of logistics and less risk for out of stocks. Reduction of food waste due to expired shelf life is another positive effect of longer shelf life. On the other hand, it is extremely important that the consumer gets good experiences when buying and consuming the dairy products. Especially for the Danish consumers the experience of "fresh" is an important quality parameter and this preference has been encouraged by the Danish dairies who traditionally have promoted fresh milk. 24 hours milk and milk directly from the cow etc. are some examples. But what is fresh? How do the consumers define fresh? Can an “old” foodstuff/dairy product be fresh and how old can it be while staying fresh? Do the storage conditions – fridge versus shelves – make a difference to how consumers perceive the product – fresh or not-fresh? What about an old cheese – is it a fresh product or not?
The general program on shelf life in Arla Foods
Shelf life is a high priority area in Arla Foods in general and in Arla Foods R&D specifically. When studying shelf life there is focus on chemical, physical, microbiological and sensory aspects, and the work is applied into three areas: 1) Food safety: to ensure that the products are safe during the entire shelf life period; 2) New product development: to make sure the newly developed products have the expected quality throughout shelf life; 3) Shelf life extension of existing products (fresh dairy and ambient products). To support on shelf life a number of approaches are used to give advice on composition and on process, to study the application of new ingredients, processing, and packaging solutions, to do risk assessments and challenge tests, to perform shelf life studies where we follow product properties in time, to predict shelf life based on available data.
As shelf life of dairy products has a high relevance, it is at the core of Arla’s activities in R&D.
Forlængelse af holdbarhed vha. biobeskyttende kulturer
I EU kasseres 17% af al yoghurt – svarende til 1.5 mio. tons årligt. Studier viser at 80% kasseres alene pga. udløb af holdbarhedsdatoen og at produktet ofte smides ud uåbnet. Flere faktorer er medbestemmende for holdbarheden af yoghurt, men specielt vækst af gær og skimmel medfører for mange mejerier store udfordringer – ofte i perioder med ændringer i produktionen eller ekstra højt tryk på kapaciteten. En naturlig måde at mindske risikoen for vækst af gær og skimmel i mejeriprodukter og derved forlænge holdbarheden er ved brug af biobeskyttende kulturer, som består af mælkesyrebakterier specielt udvalgt baseret på deres evne til at hæmme gær og skimmel.
Bioprotection of cheese – possibilities and experiences
To maintain good food quality with the aim of decreasing food spoilage and thereby reducing food waste, has become increasingly important throughout the food chain. However, the ways of reducing the food spoilage may vary depending on various parameters including: the type of cheese and process. Therefore, various examples on applications will be given, among these: cream cheese, cottage cheese and semi-hard yellow cheese. The presentation will introduce natural solutions including a broad range of protective cultures, which do not only have antifungal properties, but may also enhance and improve the flavor profile of the product throughout the shelf-life. The protective solutions cover more than protective cultures, the presentation will also cover other natural solutions such as fermentates and purified antimicrobials – all relevant depending on the application and country of interest.
Stabilisatorer giver mejeriprodukter længere holdbarhed
For at få forbrugeren til at købe/genkøbe et produkt, er det vigtigt, at produktets gode kvalitet og sensoriske egenskaber bevares igennem hele holdbarhedsperioden. Ved fremstilling af mejeriprodukter med forlænget holdbarhed er anvendelsen af egnede stabilisatorer ofte nødvendige for at bevare kvaliteten og de fysisk-kemiske egenskaber. Den rette stabilisator kan forhindre uønsket udseende eller smagsoplevelse ved enten at stabilisere de fysiske karakteristika eller ved at beskytte proteiner i produktet.
Stabilisering af mejeriprodukters fysiske karakter med egnet hydrokolloid handler om at modvirke sedimentation, synerese eller direkte separation. Stabilisatorer virker beskyttende på proteiner for mejeriprodukter, der gennemgår processerne syrning og varmebehandling, samtidig med at produktet bibeholder sin sensoriske kvalitet. Dette sker via en beskyttende interaktion med mælkeprotein, hvorved smagsfejl, relateret til grynet eller sandet tekstur, kan undgås for langtidsholdbare produkter.
ESL milk – theory and practice of shelf life extension
Shelf life is defined as a period of time during which food products, when stored and handled under the recommended conditions: remain safe; retain desired sensory, chemical, physical and microbiological characteristics; maintain a composition that complies with the food label declaration. Tetra Pak has been working long time with technologies securing prolongation of microbiological, enzymatic, chemical and physical stability of liquid dairy products. There are a variety of approaches and applicable technologies, depending on production needs and defined levels of quality. The presentation will highlight most important methods of shelf life prolongation for consumption milk.
UV-C lys som desinfektion – nu og i fremtiden
Der introduceres til UV-C lys og hvilke kvalitetskriterier der er gældende for UV-C lamper og deres anvendelse. Derefter bliver en række kendte anvendelsesmuligheder med relevans for mejeriindustrien præsenteret og her vil fokus f.eks. være på 1) Rent vand, hele vejen til sidste udtag; 2) Behandling af forskellig emballage typer, samt optimal setup for dette; 3) Mulighed for brug af UV-C lys til sikring af sterilt pakkemiljø, herunder luft indtag mm. 4) Status for direkte behandling af fødevarer – hvad er muligt og ikke muligt. UV-C lys har naturligvis også begrænsninger både teknisk og sikkerhedsmæssigt og disse vil blive omtalt. Endelig vil der blive givet et bud på hvilken teknologisk udvikling, der forventes inden for brugen af UV-C lys i de kommende år og hvilke nye muligheder giver dette.
Predictive microbiology for the dairy industry
Predictive food microbiology is a highly useful tool for risk assessment, product innovation, reformulation and documentation of food safety. However, the gap between scientific development and practical implementation in the dairy sector has been a challenge. Therefore, an overview of available predictive food microbiology models for dairy products and related software will be presented. Special focus will be on practical examples to show how these mathematical models can contribute to innovation in product formulation and distribution conditions within the dairy sector.
