Expiry date & Shelf Life

JanetJanet

Hi, 

I have been making organic natural skincare lotion with a shelf life of 6 months using natural preservative. I tried to sell to retailers but they required my product to have at least 2 years expiry date/shelf life. 
I found that other natural skincare brand have a 3 years expiration date if unopened (and 1 year shelf life after opened). 
May i know if anyone know how to make to seal my product with a very long expiration date ? Do i just need to use hot-air sealing machine to seal my product? Or do i need to add some nitrogen in it? or any other methods? 
Please kindly help  
Thank you in advance  

Belassi

You need to use a proper preservative.

sven

  

jeremien

How do you base you decision to indicate 6 months shelf life? Only from microbiological data?

Perry

If you want helpful answers you must include your list of ingredients.

JanetJanet

Hi Perry and all,

Thanks all for your reply!
Apologies - let me clarify my question. I would like to know why the expiry date can be extended when the product is unopened. Is it because they use any technique to seal the product (add nitrogen and no oxygen inside the product)? 


And here is my product's recipe. I use natural ingredients. Please kindly help  

6g Olivem 1000 emulsifier (Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate)
3g cetyl alcohol
10g avocado oil
10g macadamia oil

66g distilled water
2.5g glycerine

0.5g Vitamin E Oil
0.5g ylang ylang essential oil
0.5g  frankincense essential oil
1g Preservative Eco (Benzyl Alcohol (and) Salicylic Acid (and) Glycerin (and) Sorbic Acid 

ozgirl

How did you determine your 6 month expiry date?

To determine an expiry date you will need to conduct stability testing on your product.

Perry has written about how to do this on his blog http://chemistscorner.com/how-to-stability-test-a-cosmetic-formula/

em88

ozgirl is right. Stability test is a must if you want to have better shelf life 
Olivem 1000 should be an expensive emulsifier, resulting in an expensive end product. It is a must to have much better shelf life  

Gunther

To make it worse, it must pass challenge tests
remember this ain't a pharmaceutical or food product that is readily consumed after opening
rather it can be left opened for months before all it's used up by the customer.
So proper preservatives are unavoidable.

P.S. I believe there's either a limit on how much salicylic acid you can use skin applications, there must be warning on the label.

AFRIDI85

@ozgirl Hello plz can you helping me that problem.

why does not perfume remain in Dishwash wash liquid.?

Belassi

@AFRIDI85, please don't barge into someone else's thread. Thanks.

JanetJanet

@ozgirl @em88 @gunther @belassi
Thank you very much
may i know if i can just do the freeze-thaw testing but not the oven testing? 
Or i need to do both?  Thanks again! 

In addition, does anyone have an idea on the "sealing technique"? If the product is sealed (using hot-air sealing machine).  Does that mean the shelf life will be extended? 

Thank you again

Belassi

If it is NOT properly sealed you will experience evaporation and air-exchange and I can guarantee the shelf life will be poor. Once opened the product will be subject to contamination and the preservatives will be effective according to the degree of that challenge. Pumps are better than pots, and airless is best of all - but expensive. Airless containers have a luxury appeal to them but the price of the packaging is usually more than the cost of the contents.