Ready to Eat Food in Market

Ready to eat food is being popular in our daily life, especially in Asia countries like Japan, Korea, Thailand, India.....so how the "MRE" Meal Ready to Eat process and packaged ?

Thermal sterilization is one of the critical process for extened the shelf-life of packaged product. Thermal sterilization has been used to achieve long-term stability for canned foods and it is now used for a broad range of products. The majority of shelf-stable foods are thermally processed after being placed in the final containers. The objective fo thermal sterilization is to produce safe and high quality food at price that the consumer is willing to pay. On the other hand, sterilization might affects its nutritional quality such as vitamin content. Optimal thermal sterilization of food always requires a compromise between the beneficial and destructive influences of heat on the food. Saturated steam is the most commonly used heating medium for commercial sterilization of packaged foods because of several advantages.

Still Retort used for thermal processing.
The still retort is the oldest type of equipment used for thermal processing. The sterilization method using a still retort consists of loading the containers, which are placed into baskets immediately after seaming and then into an appropriately designed iron vessel (retort), closing the vessel, and heating the containers with steam. Introduction
of steam into the retort should be done with care since it is necessary to displace all of the air in the retort. The presence of air during thermal sterilization processing can be result in under-processing since steam-air mixtures result in lower heat transfer rates.
A retort pouch is a type of food packaging created by aseptic processing, made from multiple layers of flexible laminate, allowing for the sterile packaging of a wide variety of food and drink, ranging from water to fully-cooked, thermo-stabilized (heat-treated) high-caloric (1,300 on average) meals such as Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs) which can be eaten cold, warmed by submersing in hot water, or through the use of a flameless ration heater, a meal component introduced by the military in 1992.[1] Retort pouches are used in field rations, space food, camping food, and brands such as Capri Sun, Tasty Bite, etc.

A retort pouch is a plastic and metal foil laminate pouch that is used as an alternative to traditional industrial canning methods.[2] A pouch is a bag with 3 or 4 wide seals, able to contain liquid inside, sometimes has a bottom gusset and its name is Stand Up Pouch.

Retortable flexible containers are made from multiple layers of flexible laminate that are thermally processed like a can. The material of flexible containers provide superior barrier properties for allowing a long shelf life, seal integrity, toughness, and puncture resistance and also withstand the rigors of thermal processing.  It is suitable for a wide variety of food and drink, ranging from water to fully-cooked, thermo-stabilized (heat-treated) high-caloric (1,300 on average) meals such as Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs) which can be eaten cold, warmed by submersing in hot water, or through the use of a flameless ration heater. The structure of the retortable pouch used nowaday are standard specification such as:

Transparent Retort Pouch: PA15/RCPP60-100
Foil Retort Pouch: PET12/AL7-9/PA15/RCPP70-100
High barrier, microwaveable retort pouch: SiOxPET or AlOxPET /PA / RCPP

Source from Li Pack Corporation Ltd http://www.lipackhk.com/