Food Shelf Life Testing: Accelerated and Real-Time Studies
FTS Laboratories provides accelerated and real-time shelf life testing for food manufacturers, importers, and brands across the United States. From our ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited laboratory in Chesapeake, Virginia, we design shelf life studies that help you set, confirm, or extend product dates with data you can defend to customers, retailers, and regulators.
Our in-house chemistry, microbiology, and sensory teams track how your product changes over time, all under one roof.
Accelerated Shelf Life Testing
Accelerated shelf life testing (ASLT) stores product at elevated temperatures under controlled conditions to speed up the chemical and physical changes that happen during normal storage. By testing at set intervals, we can estimate real-world shelf life in weeks or months instead of waiting a year or more. Accelerated shelf life studies are ideal for:
New product development and reformulations
Supporting a shelf life extension
Comparing packaging materials or storage conditions
Getting a defensible date before launch
Real-Time Shelf Life Testing
Real-time shelf life testing holds product under its intended storage conditions for the full length of its expected life, with testing at scheduled pull points. It’s the most direct measure of how a product actually performs and the strongest support for a final best-by or use-by date. Many clients run both: an accelerated study to set an initial date, confirmed by a real-time study running alongside it.