Best before dates for table olives

® Best Practice Series

Michael Southan, AOA OliveCare® Administrator

The OliveCare® program is all about helping olive producers achieve quality. With that aim, the Best Practice Series of articles discusses how to increase the yield of premium EVOO through best practice management strategies from the grove to the consumer.

Best before dates for table olives

Under FSANZ food labelling regulations, all goods with a shelf life under two years require a best before date (BBD) be included on the label. An attitude of “let’s just put two years” is not good enough: the BBD needs to be based on objective testing/measurement.

We’ve talked a lot about BBDs for olive oil in the past few years but there’s been little discussion about table olives. So let’s look at the factors involved and how to determine the BBD for a table olive product.

Key factors

There are five key factors that determine the potential shelf life (BBD) of table olives: • fruit quality, ideally achieved by: optimum tree nutrition (especially calcium and boron) to achieve firm fruit; fruit not too ripe; optimum fruit fermentable sugar levels; clean with minimal pest and disease damage; • efficient harvesting methods, to minimise fruit impact damage and time to processing; • active aerobic or anaerobic fermentation process, to achieve the required lactic activity and pH (in an 8%-10% NaCl brine) • packaging method to prepare a shelf stable product: containers - plastic buckets, glass jars, plastic pouches; exclusion of air - fill package to brim or use an oil layer; pasteurisation; brine strength; and the effect of other ingredients & flavourings.

Note: while pouch olives (depending on the quality of the plastic or laminate packaging) may be expected to have a lesser shelf life than olives packaged in glass jars, this is not the only critical factor determining potential BBD; • transport and storage conditions – warehouse, transit and retail store protection from heat and light.

Size matters

Table olive production specialists report that table olives held in bulk at 8%-10% brine, with effective exclusion of air, will maintain quality for many years, however small retail packs are less reliable for long term storage. Hence packing to meet buyer demand and specifications has become the new norm.

Retail sales

At the retail level there are essentially two markets for commercial table olives:

Supermarkets - shelf stable pasteurised retail ready product in jars and pouches, noting retailers prefer longer BBDs to facilitate stock control.

Note: table olive products with <6.0% salt must be pasteurised for food safety purposes. Pasteurised product can also use lower salt preservation levels in line with healthy eating recommendations/low sodium medical diets.

Food service (hotels and restaurants, and supermarket delis) – generally prefer unpasteurised 10kg buckets which are held under refrigeration, but which may remain open until finished, so product turnover is vital.

Note: table olives are more shelf stable in brine >8% and this level is preferred by the food service sector.

There is also a third important market:

Artisan food outlets (cellar doors, farmers markets and speciality outlets, including organic food stores and delis) - where consumers are looking for high quality table olives, unpasteurised (with probiotics), natural and of local provenance.

Industry guidance

To ensure truth in labelling of Australian olive products, the AOA has created a collection of documents to assist olive producers and marketers in complying with government regulations and industry labelling requirements. The AOA Australian Product Label Guide for Table Olives states, under “BEST BEFORE DATE - Mandatory”: • A best-before date shall be declared in accordance with the FSANZ

Food Standards Code Part 1.2.5. • Table olives shall not display a best before date greater than two years from the date of packaging. • The best before date shall be supported by technical evidence.

Summary

Given there are so many factors that determine the potential BBD for table olive products, how can table olive producers determine an objective BBD?

The use of retained samples is highly recommended to test the effectiveness of the combined effect of the above factors on shelf life, and to inform the appropriate BBD.

If you are uncertain that your product will hold up for two years then don’t use a two-year BBD. Instead opt for a more conservative six or 12 months, until you have sufficient evidence from testing and tasting of retained samples to demonstrate that your production methods will deliver a product with a longer shelf life.

Best before: 12/5/23

For more information, access the step-by-step Australian Product Label Guide: Table Olives on the Australian Olive Association website - www.australianolives.com.au/labelling-information.