Trevor Craig is the Corporate Director of Technical Training and Consulting at Microbac Laboratories. He is responsible for the direction of Microbac’s food testing, consulting with food manufacturers across the country to help decision-makers optimize their businesses from lab to production to sale. He has been working in the food industry for more than 15 years. He previously worked at other large labs across the country on hundreds of different projects and product types, conducting shelf life, accelerated, and challenge studies for each lab. Trevor’s first role in the industry involved working for an ingredients company with applications to food and agriculture, including antimicrobials used for shelf stability.

Microbac Laboratories helps clients manage food quality and safety risks to protect consumers and their brands. The company’s industry expertise and analytical strength supports food safety programs for compliance with FSMA regulations. Microbac Laboratories serves all food industry segments with services to meet unique needs. Microbac Laboratories offers numerous food testing services including allergen detection, nutrition testing and labeling, GMO analysis, ingredient authenticity, molecular testing, Cyclospora testing, and environmental monitoring.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Trevor Craig [1:48] about:

• The definition of sell-by and use-by dates on food packaging, their purpose, and when their use is required
• Why shelf life and expiration dates help ensure food quality as much as food safety
• The difference between shelf life testing and routine product quality testing, and why companies should be conducting both
• How Microbac Laboratories conducts shelf life testing with a tailored approach for each product to ensure that shelf life is determined correctly 
• How Microbac uses accelerated studies to determine the shelf life of long-term, shelf-stable products
• The difference between a shelf life, accelerated, and challenge study, and how the data is evaluated and applied to help ensure FSQ.

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