Role of Antioxidants in Extending Shelf Life

In addition, natural shelf life solutions can be used to produce a food product with ingredients consumers can recognize or that are less “chemical sounding.” They can also be used in the case where “no artificial preservatives” is the label claim.

Traditional. Traditional shelf life solutions, such as TBHQ and BHA, have been used in the food industry for over 40 years. Both are safe to use according to the FDA, and are very effective at increasing the oxidative stability of food products even at low dosage rates.

These antioxidants offer longer carry-through in foods with challenging processing conditions. Examples of this are fried foods or foods baked at higher temperatures. Shelf life solutions like TBHQ and BHA do not impart a color, flavor, or odor to the finished food product. They are the most cost-efficient solutions for increasing the shelf life of food susceptible to oxidation.

Shelf life providers like Camlin Fine Sciences (CFS), a provider of high-quality shelf life extension solutions, produce a full line of both traditional and natural antioxidant blends in both liquid or powder forms. CFS also offers complimentary customer application testing to evaluate oxidation in a finished food product and to help mitigate the oxidation cycle.

Natural vs. Traditional Trends

The overall shelf life solutions market has grown significantly over the past few years, mainly driven by increasing demand for processed foods and widening distribution channels. There has also been more demand for natural and organic foods. This comes on the heels of increased awareness about food safety. It also has been in large part driven by social media, which has created a great deal of both awareness and discussion of the topic.

Healthy eating trends and the preference for quality food today is fueling the demand for natural shelf life solutions. It is evident that natural antioxidants are growing at a faster rate as consumers clamor for food labels with mostly recognizable ingredients. Still, synthetic or traditional antioxidant solutions remain the largest growing segment of the global food antioxidant market.

Traditional antioxidants continue to grow in the U.S. as well as globally. However, the shift to natural is trending upward in the U.S., as it is in countries like the U.K., China, and Germany, which all have large markets for clean label.

With the rise of the middle class in Brazil, China, India and Russia, longer shelf life is an increasing demand for food formulators. Affordable solutions to shelf life will continue to dominate the overall volume of antioxidants sold globally with a focus on synthetic ingredients.

Lastly, the other major current trend is the demand for longer shelf life, yet fewer preservatives. This has spurred food manufacturers to figure out new packaging solutions.

Rise of the Clean Label

Before making natural claims regarding specific ingredients or the overall product, food manufacturers need to clearly identify what the true needs are for the consumer, retailer, or restaurant they are developing for.

Some items food manufacturers typically have considered before moving to fully natural claims include the following.

• Do they want to keep away from a list of ingredients a retailer or restaurant chain has put together?
• Do they want to minimize the number of ingredients on an ingredient statement?
• What are the label goals regarding the “natural” claim?
• Do they want to use the word “natural” on the label, or simply be able to claim, “Made with natural ingredients”?

Going “all natural” depends greatly on the target demographic. Without a doubt, natural alternatives to traditional shelf life solutions are more expensive. Not only are the products more costly, but also an increased inclusion rate is frequently needed to achieve the same or similar shelf life.