Post on 17-Nov-2020
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Copyright © 2020 Food Research Lab. All rights reserved 1
What are Ready to Cook Foods. List Out the Requirements of Packaging Ready-
To-Cook Foods.
Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,
Technical Operations, FoodResearchLab
info@foodresearchlab.com
In-Brief
Is cooking the biggest challenge for today's
generation? Of course, it's true. The food
product development industries formulate a
new product in food industries know as RTC
(ready-to-cook) foods to overcome this
situation,
The RTC foods have become an alternation
for home-cooked foods. However, there are
many challenges faced during the production
and packaging of these foods.
Food research lab helps you to know the
various requirements in food packaging of
RTC foods.
Keywords: New Product development in food,
food recipe development, recipe development
consultants, New product development in
food industries, food industries development,
technological food development,
technological market development, food
development from technology, food industrial
development, recipe development services,
food product development, food product
industries, food product companies
I. READY-TO-COOK FOODS
Convenience is a crucial driver in the growing
market for fresh ready-to-cook meals with
high nutrient content for new Product
development in food. Customers lack their
time during their busy weeks in cooking. This
food contains raw ingredients with precut,
seasoned and mixed, that are ready-made,
high-quality meals. These can go directly from
the cold fridge into the oven (or to the grill)
which is perfect for hungry-time consumers.
Ready-to-cook meals serve customers meals
with the taste of homemade foods.
II. THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
PACKAGING READY-TO-COOK FOODS
1. Depending on their primary moisture
content,
Low moisture-content food
Moisturize 1 to 5% with Equilibrium Relative
Humidity (ERH) 18-20%.
As they have low moisture and ERH, the
tendency to absorb moisture from the
surroundings and turn soggy, losing their crisp
and taste
One most important factor is the moisture
vapour transmission rate (MVTR) for the
packaging materials going to use for food
production. MVTR values should be less than
1 gm /m2 / 24 hours
Medium-moisture content food
The Moisture content should be 6 to 20%
ERH up to 65%
Barrier property (MVTR) requirement for this
food is less rigid. For longer Shelf life,
microbiological spoilage is more critical.
Usage of preservatives should be frequent.
High-moisture content food
Moisture content is 20 to 60%
ERH is about 85%
Examples:
Bakery products- cake, bread
Freshly baked products like bread and cake,
The ERH is higher than the ambient ERH
frequently. The products release moisture
content.
Copyright © 2020 Food Research Lab. All rights reserved 2
Plastic materials such as low-density
polyethene (LDPE) that are permeable to
water vapour helps in packaging these
products for the short shelf life of food
usually. Microbial spoilage is the best
consideration for longer shelf life using
technological food development. These
products undergo sterilization and packaging
in sealed containers such as cans, retort and
aseptic packs with the help of, food recipe
development.
The Medium and high moisture food is
susceptible to the microbial decomposition
and demands adequate processing methods,
before their packaging and preservation.
Oxygen /Air Permeability
Ready-To-Cook food consists of typically fat
and other ingredients that can be oxidized.
Suppose oxygen/ air is allowed to come in
contact with the packaged food. In that case,
oxidative degradation of fat occurs, and many
other oxidative changes take place. It causes
rancidity, flavourlessness and the
discolouration in the food. Packaging material
for high fat should contain low oxygen
permeability with recipe development
consultants.
Nitrogen Permeability
The food packaging is usually taking place in
an inert atmosphere of Nitrogen (N2) to
protect the food from oxygen/moisture. The
N2 permeability of the package must be low to
prevent its escape into the atmosphere for food
industrial development.
Grease Resistance Properties
A variety of RTC food has edible oil and fat as
their ingredients. Grease/oil during storage
must not produce adverse effects during the
packaging material used for these products, as
fat may ooze out. HDPE and LDPE are
affected by grease and are not suitable for
packing fatty products. Polyester films,
cellophane, polypropylene, ionomer films etc.
are ideal for such beneficial purposes. Flavour
and essential oils provide the organoleptic
qualities of much RTC food as they are
volatile substances. Hence gas permeability of
the packaging material must be very low to
prevent flavour loss in food. It is also
necessary to stop the entry of the outer oxygen
and air, that may cause oxidative changes in
the flavour.
The sensitivity of light:
Light accelerates and creates an oxidative
change linked with the flavours in food. Use
of Opaque packaging materials such as cans
and aluminium foil offers the best protection
from sunlight. Metallised polyester and
pigmented plastics give complete satisfaction.
The light may lead to discolouration in food.
Few films are opaque to visible light but allow
U.V. light to penetrate in food product
development.
2. Depending on their significant
ingredients, the blends fall under four
groups
Cereal-based ingredients
Legumes based ingredients
Fat rich ingredients
Spice enriched ingredients
Cereal-based ingredients
The first category, cereal-based ingredients
consisting of mixes for idli, dosa that is mainly
sensitive to moisture pick up and need
protection against this. They generally have
moisture content around 8-10% and become
Copyright © 2020 Food Research Lab. All rights reserved 2
soft. Polyolefin plastic pouches of 37 to 75m
thickness, which provides 3-4 months shelf
life prefer for packaging purposes.
Legumes based ingredients
The Legume or pulses based mixes comprise
vada, khara sev, bonda, etc. have packaging
requirements identical to those of cereal-based
blends, but posses lower permissible moisture
pickup. It requires packaging material consists
of good water vapour impermeability. LDPE
and P.P. pouches will offer 1½ to 3 months of
storage life under high temperature/R.H.
conditions, that would correspond to 5 to 6
months in average temperatures.
Fat rich ingredients
The instant mixes of Jamun, cake, etc. that
have high-fat source and milk solids, suscepts
to rancidity and make interactions with
oxygen and water vapour. The CPP pouches
of 200 grams weight give a shorter shelf life
around 2-3 months, adequate for local
marketing. However, for longer shelf life and
export purposes, HD-LDPE films will better
suits for protection and attraction purposes.
Spice enriched ingredients
Spice enriched mixes such as rasam, sambar,
soup, bisibelebath are suspects to aroma loss,
oxidative deterioration changes. The
functional ones based on cellophane/P.E.,
plain or metallized PET/PE, and co-extruded
films with polyamide core layer provide
longer shelf life will be more. The innermost
layer of HD-LDPE coextruded film; ethylene-
acrylic acid copolymer provides the required
properties and good heat sealability.
III. CONCLUSION
Food research lab lists and guide the food
production companies to do the best
packaging of RTC foods with the help of this
blog. The packaging is an essential part before
marketing the food, and it is challenging to all
the food development industries.
REFERENCES
1. Coles, R., McDowell, D., & Kirwan, M. J. (Eds.). (,
2003). Food packaging technology (Vol. 5). CRC press.
2. Dainelli, D., Gontard, N., Spyropoulos, D., Zondervan-
van den Beuken, E., & Tobback, P. (2008). Active and
intelligent food packaging: legal aspects and safety
concerns. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 19,
S103-S112.