Prediction of shelf life and cold chain monitoring of red meat in Australian domestic supply chain

Summary

The length of time that food remains edible and nutritious depends on multiple variables including temperature, moisture and other factors that affect the growth rates of organisms that cause spoilage.

This pilot project defined the commercial benefits of continuous cold chain monitoring of red meat from abattoir through the supply chain to the retail shelf for the Australian red meat industry.

The project found that there is considerable variability of the cold supply chain from abattoir to processor and processor to retail store, which affects the potential shelf life of meat at retail shelf and in the home. Fortunately, there are several areas where further research and validation would assist the industry to maximise the opportunities from the shelf life model work already completed.

Objectives

The objectives of this project were to:

• investigate the current supply chain of red meat through a variety of domestic retail supply chains
• identify the variability of the cold supply chain from abattoir to processor and processor to retail store
• calculate shelf life of each carton tracked, to compare to current shelf life expiration date to assess differences and value.

Key findings

• Results show that there are challenges in maintaining the cold chain in regional long-haul transport legs, which impacts the shelf life potential of the product.
• Shelf life on vacuum skin pack is considerably longer than current industry 'best before' dates, so there is a high risk of product being marked down or destroyed too quickly. 
• Initial areas of concern for shelf life and food safety impacts are in secondary freight for regional Australia.

Benefits to industry

There is considerable variability of the cold supply chain from processor to retailers and this project allows industry to see potential food safety issues due to temperature abuse and maintain value in product brands.

The report also provides brand owners a template of how to audit and resolve problematic supply chains and identify breaches of temperature specifications.

MLA action

Another supply chain monitoring project has commenced from this work. The new project will provide industry with a template to monitoring and resolving international shipment issues, and identify alternative uses to the data to gain more value when combined with the predictive shelf life model. 

Future research

A larger scale pilot to further validate findings across the majority of higher risk and longer supply chains store shelf is needed. It would be desirable if some of the potential applications discovered to-date are addressed in practice.