Flexible Packaging for Thermoprocessed Foods

Abstract

This chapter covers the use of flexible packaging for thermoprocessed foods in depth, considering all efforts up to 1960 as historical, and all subsequent developments according to specific technical areas. An attempt has been made to cover the basic early work on feasibility of the method and definition of problems. Generally, the developments after 1961 have been refinements, assurances of capabilities, and transitions to commercial production. It discusses about the materials in detail. It delves into the general aspects, extractives, bacterial penetration, retortability, and current films. The subsequent section discusses package designs and food product development. It also presents a discussion on the production systems. It explains about the sealing in detail. The effect of retorting and storage on heat seals, the significance of interlamina bonds in the seal area, the effects of occluded particles in closure seals, and the methods for sealing retort pouches are discussed. The next section discusses about filling systems in detail. The general aspects of air removal, specific techniques, and methods of determining residual gas levels are explained. The chapter covers a discussion on retorting and package durability. The general aspects of quality assurance, system specifications and sampling protocol, and specific tests are explained. The future research, and development needs are discussed in the last section.