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.