Storage and Shelf Life

Author(s): J. N. Robson
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, Vol. 191, No.
1102, A Discussion on Food Technology in the 1980s (Nov. 18, 1975), pp. 185-191
Published by: The Royal Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/76915 .
Accessed: 06/08/2014 16:59
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
.
The Royal Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Proceedings of the
Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 168.176.5.118 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:59:07 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Proc. B. Soc. Lond. B.
191,
185-191
(1975)
Printed in Great Britain
Storage
and shelf life
BY J. N. ROBSON
Food
Division,
Marks and
Spencer Ltd,
Michael
House,
Baker
Street,
London W1A 1DN
These
apparently
mundane and
pedestrian topics
have
grown
in world
economic
importance recently,
and such
currently
fashionable words and
phrases
as
conservation,
total world
supplies,
waste
prevention,
must
now be involved under these
headings.
Good
storage
conditions are
probably
more involved with
temperature
than
any
other
single physical
factor. The correct
temperature
can lie
anywhere
between -40 and +40
OC, depending
on the food and 'life'
expectancy.
In the
past,
the food
industry
did not
always give proper
priority
to the
provision
of
good storage
facilities. This attitude has
latterly
changed
as the
community
and the
industry
have become aware
of the benefits.
Shelf life is the
activity by
which the food
technologist
ensures that the
product
reaches the consumer in the best
possible
condition. It is
pro-
perly
determined
by experiment, taking
into account conditions of
storage, transport, packaging, microbiological
and biochemical deteriora-
tion. Shelf-life information must be communicated to
distributor,
retailer
and consumer in a
meaningful
and
uncomplicated
manner.
The next decade will see
greater
effort and
expenditure put
into under-
standing
and
exploiting
the better
storage
and freshness of food to the
advantage
of the
community.
1. INTRODUCTION
It is
by
a curious twist in the
arrangement
of the
programme
of this discussion
meeting
that the last
paper
of all should deal with
subjects
which constituted
primitive
man's earliest excursions into food
technology.
Ever since we learned to
hunt
for,
and then
cultivate,
our food we have tried to store it so that the fat
years
could
provide
for the lean
years. Perhaps
it is because we have not achieved this
object satisfactorily,
even aided
by twentieth-century science,
that the
organizers
felt that at the conclusion of the conference
you
should be sent on
your way
towards the 1980s with a
sharp
reminder of one of the oldest
challenges
of all!
When I first
accepted
the invitation to make this contribution it was a
glorious
day
in the late summer of 1973. The
topics
and trends which
sprang
to
my
mind
were
obvious,
and would have been
entirely appropriate
to the
August
of last
year.
But
technologists
must react to world
events;
to
political
and economic
pressures
which can
spring up overnight;
to
shortages
and
gluts
-
in other words to lean
times as well as fat ones. And so the world events of the last
eight
months have
changed
the
shape
of
my contribution,
since the
storage
and freshness of food
[
185
]
This content downloaded from 168.176.5.118 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:59:07 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
J. N. Robson
(Discussion Meeting)
assume increased
importance
when we
suddenly
become aware of the need to
conserve
energy,
reduce and utilize
waste,
contain
escalating prices,
recycle
precious
materials,
and
apply
better science and
technology
to maintain
adequate
food
supplies
to all the
peoples
of the world whether 'affluent' or
'under-privileged',
whatever those over-worked
epithets may
mean in
today's
context.
Man's
original problem,
to which I referred at the
beginning,
was that a lot of
food could not be used when it was
readily
available but would
probably
become
uneatable
by
the time he needed it. This situation will be the same in the 1980s
but let us
hope
that some of the solutions
provided by
food scientists will
by
then
have been
applied
with some success.
To
summarize,
many
foods are
produced
once a
year,
in the 'season'. Each
season
may
be
good
or
bad,
large
or
small,
but in either
case,
while the food can be
harvested seven
days
a
week,
the workers
may only
want to work five
days
a week
-
in the
eighties
it
may
be four. At the other end of the chain consumers are
tending
to want to
shop only
once a week - and in some countries even less
frequently.
At times of national
holidays,
however,
the consumer demands that
four or five
days' supplies
should be available - fresh and in sufficient
quantity.
From the farm at one side of the world to the
supermarket
at the other we are
therefore faced with this
discontinuous,
'stop-start'
food
production
and dis-
tribution
cycle.
This
elementary summary
of the
problem emphasizes,
I
hope,
the
urgent
need for a
proper study
and
practice
of the best
principles
of
storage
and
freshness. If we
ignore
this
need,
we will
pay
the
penalty.
Although storage
and shelf life are
interdependent
and
impossible
to
separate,
I
shall for
simplicity's
sake consider them
separately, taking storage
to mean that
which
generally
occurs in bulk at the earlier
stages
in the food
production cycle,
and
applying
the term 'shelf life' to the finished
product
in the final distribution
chain and in the home.
Finally,
I
hope
to show how the first of these factors
influences the second.
2. STORAGE--SOME
BASIC PRINCIPLES
The first
principle
of successful
storage
is to avoid
putting
bad food into store.
Over mature, diseased,
or
putrefying
food will not
improve
with
storage
and will
probably spoil
the rest of the contents of the store. The
object
of
storage
is to be
able to use the food when the consumer needs it - not
just
when it
happens
to be
available. There are two basic choices in the
storage
of
food;
either one
virtually
arrests all natural
processes,
or one allows these
processes
to
proceed
with control
and
preditability.
To be more
specific,
we can choose between:
(i) Storing
food in a mature
form, arranging
the
storage
conditions so that
all
the
processes
of deterioration are
virtually
arrested, with the
preservation
of
good
quality
and
microbiological safety, e.g. freezing, dehydration, canning.
(ii) Storing
food in an immature form, and so control the
storage
conditions
that
the food matures at the time that the consumer needs it, e.g. temp/gas storage
of
186
This content downloaded from 168.176.5.118 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:59:07 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Storage
and
shelf life
horticultural
produce
of all
kinds; maturing
of
wine,
carcase
meat,
and hard
cheeses.
Which of these two basic
approaches
we
adopt depends
on
many
interrelated
factors - some
scientific,
some
commercial,
but there are two considerations - to
which I would like to
give
some
thought briefly
at this
point:
nutrition and
palatability.
First,
we must
pay
more attention to the nutritional losses suffered
by
stored
foods,
not
only
as a result of
primitive storage
methods in the
country
of
origin,
but also sometimes to
thoughtless
or ill-advised 'commercial'
practices
in more
sophisticated parts
of the world. It is as
important
to
preserve
the vitamins as the
quantity.
Secondly,
since we know that
psychology plays
an
important part
in the re-
sponse
we make to the
sensory appeal
of
food,
it should not be
forgotten
that
colour,
aroma, flavour,
texture and the rest must all be
preserved
if the full value of the
stored food is to be realized
by
the eventual consumer.
Poorly
stored food
may
have retained some of its food value in
analytical terms,
but nevertheless have
little food value at all if it is so unattractive that no one wants to eat it!
3. THREE IMPORTANT FACTORS
What are the most
important
controls the
technologist
needs for the successful
storage
of food? I shall consider three:
temperature,
moisture and
packaging.
(a)
The usual relation between
potential
shelf life and
temperature
is a
hyperbolic curve,
and can
apply
to a wide
variety
of foods where
biological
and chemical
processes
have not been arrested.
Rapid
achievement and accurate
maintenance of the desired
temperature throughout
the whole mass of the material
to be stored are
important challenges
to the food
engineer,
whose
part
in this
activity
is often
underestimated,
and with whom communication has too fre-
quently
been
vague, inadequate
and too late.
(b)
The second
important storage
factor is moisture. Moisture facilitates
many
of the
biological processes
of
ripening
as well as deterioration.
Equally importantly,
moisture
encourages insects,
rodents and birds. The Chief Commissioner of the
Canadian Wheat Board has stated that in a recent harvest 13.5 million tonnes
(or
50
%
of wheat in store on the
prairies)
was
suffering
from
damp spoilage.
In
dealing
with the control of
moisture,
we have two
interesting geographical
situations:
(i)
In
sunny
climates where the centuries-old
process
of
sun-drying
can be
improved
and must be
supplemented by
modern 'artificial'
drying techniques. (It
is
interesting
to note that the U.S. National Science Foundation has
given
?100000 for research into the solar
drying
of food-
'plus 9a change, plus
c'est la
mme
chose!')
(ii)
In more
temperate countries,
sufficient
drying
facilities must be
provided
to
ensure that
crops
can be
adequately
dealt
with,
and in
particular
the occasional
wet harvests can be rescued.
187
This content downloaded from 168.176.5.118 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:59:07 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
J. N. Robson
(Discussion Meeting)
On the other hand some
produce
benefits from moisture in the
storage
atmos-
phere.
Hit-and-miss
humidity
is still achieved in some fruit stores by
placing
a
bucket of water on the
floor,
but those who seek maximum
efficiency
and
yield
are
using
automatic electronic humidifiers.
(c)
Correct
packaging
is
essential,
whether the food is to be stored in the
fully
mature or immature form. The
container,
whether it is a
large
bulk case or
individual
packet,
must not interfere with the desirable
processes,
rather must it
assist them. It must
protect
the food without
affecting
it
adversely.
It must be
adequate
for the
purpose
without
being extravagant.
Temperature,
moisture and
packaging
are therefore matters of
importance
not
only
from the
point
of view of world food
supplies
but also of national
economy
and
prosperity.
4. SOME NOTES ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE
The second
storage technique
- the controlled maturation of immature food
-
is
mostly applied
to the
primary products
of
agriculture,
for instance to fruit and
vegetables
and carcase
meat,
and it
may
be useful to consider
briefly
some of the
important
factors which must be used in
achieving
success in the
proper storage
of,
say,
fresh fruit. With the
longer-life products
such as
apples
we can extend the
useful life
by
several
weeks,
while with shorter-life fruit like
strawberries,
the
extension
may
be
only
a few
days.
Each in its own
way
is
important.
Each
enables us to avoid
gluts
and
waste,
to extend the
season,
and to market the food
at a
predetermined
level of
quality
at a time when it is wanted.
The first
requirement
in the
storage
of
produce
is the removal of 'field-heat' as
it is called.
Every
hour
by
which this
process
can be shortened can mean extra
days
or weeks of shelf life. Thereafter
proper
maintenance of
temperature,
even to
the
point
of sale
(the 'cold-chain'),
is essential to
give complete
consumer satis-
faction. The use of
gas storage, humidity
controls,
disease
preventers, accelerants,
retardants,
sprout
inhibitors,
antioxidants and the rest are all useful
sophistica-
tions of the
storage
technique.
And so the
problem
of
produce storage
is
inevitably
breaking
down the barriers between
many
scientific
disciplines,
such as horti-
culture, microbiology, biochemistry, mycology, toxicology
and nutrition as well as
building
construction and
engineering.
5. BUILDING A FOOD STORE
What constitutes a
good
food store? It must have
space
for mechanical
handling
machines,
which themselves must be able to use all the
space effectively. Space
is
also essential to be able to rotate the stock and maintain
proper inspection
throughout
the
storage
life. The stored food must be
protected
from
light,
odours,
rodents,
insects and birds. The
equipment
for
ventilation, temperature
and atmo-
sphere
control must have
enough capacity
to
cope
with the
requirement
of the
188
This content downloaded from 168.176.5.118 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:59:07 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Storage
and
shelf life
store,
and where
appropriate
there must be
proper
facilities to clean and
fumigate
the store between uses.
It is
important
to
give
the
technologist
and
engineer adequate budgets
to enable
them to furnish
properly
the
equipment
and instrumentation
necessary
to achieve
the
objectives
set. So often one sees
superficially
admirable
storage
facilities
partly
wasted because
inadequate
finance was left after the main construction to
provide
sufficient
engineering capacity
to maximize the benefits of the store.
Similarly,
it is a false
economy
not to
employ
resident scientists or
technologists
who can monitor and understand the natural
processes
which are
taking place
in
large
food stores and can
exploit
the
advantages
available,
and thus minimize
waste and maximize
profitability.
6. WATER
Before
passing
on to the
subject
of shelf
life,
it
may
be
appropriate
at this
point
to make a comment on the
storage
of man's most
elementary requirement
-
water.
If water can be
regarded
as a
food,
it deserves attention in this
paper,
but as the
subject
is so vast and
specialist
in
nature,
I will be content with one or two
questions:
(a)
How close are the
developed
countries to the
danger
line in freshwater
supplies?
The
consumption per capita
has risen
enormously
in recent
years,
but
are the
storage
and
production
facilities
adequate
to
cope
with the
predicted
requirement?
(b)
While
good progress
has been made in the
development
of desalination
techniques;
can
they
be further
improved
in terms of
production capacity
and
lower
costs,
so as to constitute a more attractive
proposition
in those
parts
of the
world where water is scarce?
(c)
Should we search more
diligently
for better methods of
storing
water? Is it
beyond
the wit of
twentieth-century technology
to learn how to store the flood
waters and use them in the
ensuing drought?
Think of the
revolutionary changes
this would
bring
about in India and Eastern Australia for instance.
7. SHELF LIFE
So far our
thoughts
have been
mainly agricultural.
Now let us turn from the
farm to the
High
Street. Before the modern food
industry
existed there was no
High
Street. We
depended
on fresh uncooked food
produced locally,
and it was
relatively easy
to detect staleness and deterioration
(meat, fish, fruit, milk,
vegetables).
As our lives have
grown
remote from the
farm,
our food has become
sophisticated:
'convenience' has
crept
in,
and
prepared
foods in
packages
now
constitute the
larger part
of our diet. A
responsible
modern food
industry
needs to
ensure that such
products
reach the consumer in
good condition,
because
(a)
it is
aesthetically
desirable -no sensible
person
sells or eats stale food
voluntarily;
189
This content downloaded from 168.176.5.118 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:59:07 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
J. N. Robson
(Discussion Meeting)
(b) quality, including
nutritional
quality,
is at a maximum when the food is
fresh;
(c)
with
many
of the more
perishable foods,
there is a
microbiological,
and hence
possible
health,
hazard as the food
gets
older and
deteriorates;
(d) frankly,
it is
good
business - a
product
with a fresh
image
invites consumer
support.
The accurate determination of shelf life for
any
food can
only
be carried out
when the
product
has reached the final
stage
of
development
not
only
in terms of
its
recipe
but also of its individual and outer
packaging
and its distribution
sequence.
It is
usually only
when this
point
has been reached that a shelf life can
be determined
accurately
because
subsequent changes may
alter the situation. It
is then
necessary
to
produce
sufficient
samples, correctly packed,
to enable a
number of tests to be carried out
during
several
days
or weeks or months. These
samples
must be
subjected
to all known
rigours
of
distribution,
including
time and
temperature variations,
and
good
and bad
handling
conditions. There then follows
a series of taste
panel
and
laboratory
evaluations to decide when deterioration
starts. Such
procedures give
an indication of total
product
'life'. One can then
proceed
to
plan
how to use this information
sensibly. Major
factors which have to
be taken into account in these calculations are the times and conditions encoun-
tered in the
process
of distribution. If in doubt it is sensible to err on the
pessimistic
side. For
instance,
with
perishable
food it is unwise to allow 48 h from manufacture
to
delivery
to
shop
if it is known that at week-ends or Bank
Holiday peaks
it takes
72 h or more.
Finally,
we have to
try
to assess the reasonable shelf-life
requirements
of the
consumer. It is here that we have to be
generous; first,
because it is a service to the
customer,
and
secondly,
because this is a
stage
of the
process
of which we have
little
knowledge
and over which we have no control. It is therefore
necessary
for
us to
try
to assess what will
give
the consumer service and
satisfaction
and then
build in to our total 'life'
concept
a factor which
gives
her this
facility plus
a
surplus
if
possible.
8. COMMUNICATIONS
And
so,
with more
precise knowledge
of the influences of
storage
conditions and
shelf
life,
we are
ready
to communicate the facts and recommendations to those
who need to know them. For communication is the final and vital link between
technology
and
practical
usefulness. Communication must be
clear, accurate,
understandable and within the
capability
of the
recipient
to
implement.
Some
examples
of the
important part played by
effective communications are:
(a)
First, explaining carefully
to farmers how their
storage techniques
can be
improved
to the
advantage
of the
community
and their own
pocket.
(b) Specifying precisely
the
storage
conditions,
having previously
established
that the facilities available can achieve the
specified
conditions.
190
This content downloaded from 168.176.5.118 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:59:07 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Storage
and
shelf life
(c)
Correct
handling
and
using
instructions must be
printed
on the food con-
tainer - these are some of the
points
that consumers need to know.
(d)
Advice to
shop
workers,
housewives and the
press
on what the food
industry
has achieved on
storage
and
freshness,
and what
part they
can
play
in
making
the
best use of these achievements.
9. PROSPECT FOR 1980s
In the next few
years
we shall witness the combined effect of
enlightened
legislation (including
directive
proposals
for those of us in the
E.E.C.),
consumer
'ginger' groups,
and the
general
world need to reduce waste and increase
living
standards. The U.K. Government has been active in this
area,
calling
for new
developments designed
to achieve more fresh food rather than to avoid stale
food,
and
listing
three areas for
study:
(i)
New
procedures
to achieve better
transport
and stock control
systems.
(ii)
Better
equipment
to control
temperature throughout
the whole of the
production
and distribution chain.
(iii)
Better communication.
Economically,
a better
understanding
of the
importance
and
interdependence
of
storage
and shelf life can
help
to stabilize
prices
and
availability,
thus
ensuring
the best
possible
use of the food
produced
and maximum return to the
producer.
Another
important
economic factor is the
promise
of reduced labour costs. A
food-production process
which can be conducted on an even level of
throughput
on each
working day
will
carry
lower labour costs than one which is under-
employed
on some
days
and
paying
overtime on others in order to meet
peaks
either in
supply
or demand. A better
understanding
of
storage
and shelf life will
help
to achieve this.
Without I
hope seeming
too
complacent,
one cannot
escape
the
feeling
that
much of the
technology
is known.
Recognition,
communication and
implementa-
tion are what is
required
in the
years
ahead,
and while this is a world-wide
problem,
the solutions are not
necessarily always sophisticated
and
expensive.
It is no less
important
to teach an African tribesman to seal his
granary
with mud than to
explain
to the
European
farmer the
importance
of effective
crop-dryers
and cold
stores.
Some months
ago
the Director-General of F.A.O.
supported by
Dr
Kissinger put
forward
proposals
for a
policy
of 'world food
security'
and an International Con-
ference is to be held in Rome
shortly.
The Conference will concern itself with world
food-shortage problems
in the broad context of economic
development
and of
international
cooperation.
In
particular,
attention will be
given
to the need to set
up
an
organization
with
proper
facilities to store stocks of essential foods in times
of
plenty,
for use
by any
member
country
in times of
shortage.
Let us
hope
that
the 1980s sees such a measure of
cooperation
as a
reality
that will make more food
available for more
people
for twelve months of the
year.
In such an effort storage
and shelf life have an essential
part
to
play.
191
This content downloaded from 168.176.5.118 on Wed, 6 Aug 2014 16:59:07 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions