Useful life
Introduction
The useful life is the estimated duration that an object can have, correctly fulfilling the function for which it was created. It is normally calculated in hours of duration.
When it refers to engineering works, such as roads, bridges, dams, etc., it is calculated in years, especially for amortization purposes, since in general these works continue to provide usefulness well beyond the time estimated as useful life for the economic feasibility analysis.
Shelf life in food
Contenido
Así como la caducidad, es la fecha límite hasta la cual podemos consumir un alimento sin que haya perdido sus propiedades, la vida útil es el nombre que se le da al periodo que transcurre desde su producción a su caducidad, es decir, el tiempo durante el cual el alimento conserva todas sus cualidades. El final de la vida de un alimento no sólo depende de que mantenga niveles mínimos de contaminación, sino también de que preserve sus cualidades físico-químicas (homogeneidad, estabilidad, estructura) y organolépticas (textura, sabor, aroma).
Qualitative analysis
Thus, to define the useful life of our products we must seek the balance between microbiological expiration and sensory aspects of the product. It will not help if we obtain a dish with a shelf life of six weeks in terms of food safety, but that in that period has lost color, texture or aroma.
We can avoid food contamination in different ways:
Microbiological analysis plan
To check the effectiveness of the treatment we must carry out a microbiological analysis plan that determines the time that the food remains suitable for human consumption. The function of the laboratory is to guide the development of this plan; Basically, it is about preparing several samples in the same batch that will be analyzed on different dates within an estimated period (the first after two days of production, the second after a week, the third after 10 days, the fourth after two weeks, the fifth after 20 days,...). For these results to be reliable, we must have recorded all the data that affects the product (raw materials, suppliers and reception dates, work rooms, handlers, treatments and processes, ingredients, times and temperatures,...) and subsequently reproduce it under the same conditions.