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In developing countries like India lack of cold chains and frequent power failures
are major constrains in the preservation, distribution and marketing of highly perishable
meat products. Economically viable technologies are needed to preserve the foods
with longer shelf life. Thermal processing is a way to preserve foods in room temperature
for a considerably longer period of time. Metal cans were used initially for thermally
processed foods. Due to its disadvantages, a new packaging material called the retort
pouch was developed by the US Army for developing shelf stable meat products with
better quality and longer shelf life called retortable pouches.
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A retort pouch is a flexible laminated pouch that can withstand thermal processing
at a very high temperature. It combines the benefits of metal cans as well as the
boil in bag. These consist of laminated materials that provide an oxygen barrier
as well as moisture barrier. Flexible retortable pouches are a unique alternative
packaging method for sterile shelf-stable products. The filled products in the pouch
are heat sealed and sterilized by moist cooking in a retort to yield commercially
sterile foods. As a result the retort pouch processed foods are microbiologically
safe and have a longer shelf life at ambient temperature. In today’s consumer world
the retort pouch processing is a fast growing technology.
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India is known for its traditional culinary products such as the curries, gravies,
kheema, soups, meat balls etc. The shelf life of these products is limited. By processing
these products in retortable pouches in addition to increase the shelf life the
eating quality of the products can also be increased. NRC Meat has recently added
R&D type batch retort with a capacity to process 50 pouches per batch each about
200 gms of meat products under the project “Development of Ready to Eat (RTE) meat
products in retort pouches by thermal processing”. The objective of this project
is to develop traditional meat products such as soups, curries, kheema and briyanis
in addition to value added meat products such as sausages, nuggets, patties etc
in retort pouches. The products processed using this technology will have a shelf
life ranges between 6 months to 1 year at ambient temperature based on the kind
of product and the type of laminates used.
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| Retort Pouched Chicken Curry | Retort Pouched Sausages |
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| Retort pouched Mutton soup | Retort Pouched Nuggets |
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| Retort sterilizer |
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