A retort pouch or retortable pouch is a type of
food packaging
Food packaging is a packaging system specifically designed for food and represents one of the most important aspects among the processes involved in the food industry, as it provides protection from chemical, biological and physical alteratio ...
made from a
laminate of flexible plastic and metal foils. It allows the sterile packaging of a wide variety of food and drink handled by
aseptic processing
Aseptic processing is a processing technique wherein commercially thermally sterilized liquid products (typically food or pharmaceutical) are packaged into previously sterilized containers under sterile conditions to produce shelf-stable products ...
, and is used as an alternative to traditional industrial
canning methods. Packaged foods range from
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
to fully cooked, thermo-stabilized (heat-treated) high-caloric (1,300 kcal on average)
meal
A meal is an eating occasion that takes place at a certain time and includes consumption of food. The names used for specific meals in English vary, depending on the speaker's culture, the time of day, or the size of the meal.
Although they c ...
s 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 flameless ration heater (FRH) is a form of self-heating food packaging included in U.S. military
Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) rations (since the early 1990s) or similar rations, capable of raising the temperature of an entrée (main course) by ...
, a meal component introduced by the military in 1992. Retort pouches are used in
field ration
A field ration (combat ration, ration pack, or food packet) is a type of prepackaged or canned military ration. Field rations are distinguished from garrison rations by virtue of being designed for minimal preparation in the field, as well ...
s,
space food
Space food is a type of food product created and processed for consumption by astronauts during missions to outer space. The food has specific requirements of providing balanced nutrition for individuals working in space while being easy and s ...
, fish products,
camping food
Backcountry camping food includes ingredients used to prepare food suitable for backcountry camping and backpacking (wilderness), backpacking. The foods differ substantially from the ingredients found in a typical home kitchen. The primary differe ...
,
instant noodles, and brands such as
Capri Sun
Capri Sun (, , stylized as CAPRISUN in the United States and Capri-Sun internationally) is a German brand of juice concentrate drinks owned by Capri Sun Group Holding in Germany, which is a privately held company of Hans-Peter Wild. It was in ...
and
Tasty Bite.
Some varieties have a bottom
gusset
In sewing, a gusset is a triangular or rhomboidal piece of fabric inserted into a seam to add breadth or reduce stress from tight-fitting clothing. Gussets were used at the shoulders, underarms, and hems of traditional shirts and chemises made ...
and are known as
stand-up pouches.
Origin
The retort pouch was invented by the
United States Army Natick R&D Command,
Reynolds Metals Company
Reynolds Group Holdings is a New Zealand based packaging company with roots in the former Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acquire ...
, and
Continental Flexible Packaging, who jointly received the
Food Technology Industrial Achievement Award
The Food Technology Industrial Achievement Award has been awarded by the Institute of Food Technologists since 1959. It is awarded for the development of an outstanding food process or product that represents a significant advance in the applicat ...
for its invention in 1978.
[(Food & Drug Packaging) Retort pouches build up steam: big food companies are taking advantage of technical advances to bring out retorted products in flexible material - Technology: retort packaging]
Retortable pouches are extensively used by the
U.S. military for
field ration
A field ration (combat ration, ration pack, or food packet) is a type of prepackaged or canned military ration. Field rations are distinguished from garrison rations by virtue of being designed for minimal preparation in the field, as well ...
s (called ''
Meals, Ready-to-Eat'', or ''MREs'').
Construction
A retort pouch is constructed from a flexible metal-plastic laminate that is able to withstand the thermal processing used for
sterilization. The food is first prepared, either raw or cooked, and then sealed into the retort pouch. The pouch is then heated to 240-250 °F (116-121 °C) for several minutes under high pressure inside a
retort
In a chemistry laboratory, a retort is a device used for distillation or dry distillation of substances. It consists of a spherical vessel with a long downward-pointing neck. The liquid to be distilled is placed in the vessel and heated. The ...
or
autoclave
An autoclave is a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure in relation to ambient pressure and/or temperature. Autoclaves are used before surgical procedures to perform sterilizati ...
machine. The food inside is cooked in a similar way to
pressure cooking
Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food under high pressure steam and water or a water-based cooking liquid, in a sealed vessel known as a ''pressure cooker''. High pressure limits boiling, and creates higher cooking temperatures which ...
. This process reliably kills all commonly occurring
microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
s (particularly ''
Clostridium botulinum
''Clostridium botulinum'' is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming, motile bacterium with the ability to produce the neurotoxin botulinum.
The botulinum toxin can cause botulism, a severe flaccid paralytic disease in humans ...
''), preventing it from
spoiling. The packaging process is very similar to
canning, except that the package itself is flexible. The lamination structure does not allow permeation of gases from outside into the pouch. The retort pouch construction varies from one application to another, as a liquid product needs different barrier properties than a dry product, and similarly an
acidic
In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a ...
product needs different chemical resistance than a
basic product. Some different layers used in retort pouches include:
*
polyester (PET) – provides a gloss and rigid layer, may be printed inside
*
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pe ...
(bi-oriented
polyamide
A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds.
Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made through ...
) – provides puncture resistance
*
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
(Al) – provides a very thin but effective gas barrier
* food-grade cast
polypropylene
Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene.
Polypropylene
belongs to the group of polyolefins a ...
(CPP) – used as the sealing layer
*
polyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including b ...
(PE) – can be used instead of
PP as a sealing and bonding layer
This multi-layer structure prevents the retort pouch from being recycled into other retort pouches or food packaging. However, the material can be recycled into an aluminized resin or up-cycled into textile materials. The weight of a pouch is less than regular cans or bottles, and the energy required to produce each pouch is less than competing packaging from metals, paper, and glass.
Reception
In the
consumer
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
market, retort pouches have gained great popularity outside of the United States, particularly in the
Pacific Rim region. However, American consumers have evidently demonstrated reluctance regarding the packaging technology, and its adoption has been slow. As a result, many retort packages sold in the United States are packaged in
carton
A carton is a box or container usually made of liquid packaging board, paperboard and sometimes of corrugated fiberboard.
Many types of cartons are used in packaging. Sometimes a carton is also called a box.
Types of cartons
Folding carto ...
s to give them an appearance more familiar to consumers.
Tasty Bite products are an example of a retort pouch product packaged in a carton. Several American food distributors have begun manufacturing foods in retort pouches without cartons, notably
tuna
A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max len ...
canning companies
Chicken of the Sea
Chicken of the Sea is a packager and provider of seafood, owned by the Thai Union Group in Samut Sakhon, Thailand. The brand is attached to tuna, salmon, clams, crab, shrimp, mackerel, oysters, kippers and sardines in cans, pouches and cups, as a ...
, and
Bumble Bee
A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related genera ...
. In 2012, the
Campbell Soup Company introduced its ''Go'' line of ready-to-eat soups in stand-up retort pouches to American consumers. The product launch came with a marketing campaign targeted toward
Millennials, who have shown reluctance to purchasing other Campbell Soup products in the past.
See also
*
Retort
In a chemistry laboratory, a retort is a device used for distillation or dry distillation of substances. It consists of a spherical vessel with a long downward-pointing neck. The liquid to be distilled is placed in the vessel and heated. The ...
*
Shelf-stable food
Shelf-stable food (sometimes ambient food) is food of a type that can be safely stored at room temperature in a sealed container. This includes foods that would normally be stored refrigerated but which have been processed so that they can be s ...
*
Environmental impacts of sterile food packaging
References
Further reading
* Yam, K. L., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 2009,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Retort Pouch
Food science
Food packaging