Spotlight on Food Venture Gals: May 2023 Edition

Exploring Food Venture Gals: May 2023 Edition – Food & Beverage Magazine

Dear FVP Gals,

I own a small bakeshop specializing in gluten-free bread and gluten-free keto snacks. I’ve been starting to sell my products in some local grocery stores but they are asking if I can extend the shelf-life. I don’t want to start adding a bunch of preservatives because my customers won’t like that. Is there any other way to extend the shelf-life?

Sincerely,

Busy Baker

Dear Busy Baker,

First off, congratulations on having such a demand for your products! Bringing a product to retail stores can certainly be a learning curve. You’re absolutely right that when it comes to packaged goods, consumers are looking for clean labels with only a few ingredients that they can recognize and understand. Artificial preservatives have gotten a bad reputation and consumers are looking for brands to provide natural alternatives. Fortunately, there are several ways to extend a product’s shelf-life without artificial preservatives.

Innovative Packaging

Microbial growth is one of the factors to consider in terms of how long a product can last. Products like bread tend to have a low water activity, meaning that there is not a lot of free water available to support bacterial growth (1). The thing is, bacteria are not the only microbes of concern, it’s molds that are the culprit. The molds responsible for those moldy slices of bread typically rely on oxygen to grow (1). This is where innovative packaging can save the day!

Packaging innovation has come a long way since paper bags and tin cans. We now have something called Modified Atmosphere Packaging, or MAP for short. Just like the Earth has an atmosphere made up of gasses such as nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide, packaged goods have an atmosphere too. MAP changes the proportions of gasses within a product package to help extend its shelf life (1). For products like bread, this usually involves flushing out the oxygen and replacing it with one of the other gasses that are naturally found in the atmosphere (1). This helps prevent mold growth and slow down fat oxidation which is another thing that can make foods less fresh.

Natural Preservatives

Fat oxidation plays a role in how long your products can stay on the shelf, especially for your keto snacks. Fat oxidation and rancidity occurs when unsaturated fatty acids react with oxygen and it is accelerated in the presence of light or heat. Rancid fats give products an off flavor and odor and may even produce an off color. If the fat in your product has gone bad, it will leave a bitter taste in your customers’ mouths – literally. The good news is that antioxidants can be employed to combat oxidation and extend shelf-life.

One such antioxidant is rosemary extract. Two compounds in rosemary extract, carnosic acid and carnosol, work to prevent oxidation (2). Unlike other commonly used antioxidants (e.g. BHA, BHT) rosemary extract is naturally derived and would not be considered out of place on a “clean label” (3). The only thing left to wonder about is how it will taste.

Rosemary extract is known to have a strong, bitter flavor which may not lend itself well to certain food products (4). However, there are blends that have been specially curated to minimize its flavor and odor so that it can be applied to a wider range of products (4). It may take some trial and error but there are ways to make it work.

Final Words

Anytime you make changes to your product you need to test it again. Whether you’ve used a new type of packaging or added an additional ingredient, you need to make sure that re-check your shelf life and ensure that your customers enjoy THIS version of your product.

Sincerely,

The Food Venture Gals
Krista Charbonneau, Kiran Bains, Sima Gandhi

REFERENCES

Who we are:

If you’re looking for more resources on starting a food business, we can help! Find more information at www.FoodVentureProgram.com or email us at info@foodventureprogram.com

The Food Venture Gals are the founders of FoodVentureProgram.com; a leading organization in North American restaurant, food and beverage business development. We offer online programs to help food entrepreneurs start and grow a food product or service-based business!