Heat processing of low acid foods: an approach
for the selection of Fo requirements

Having established a safe heat process, give additional consideration to selection of Fo values with regard to product quality and spoilage risk.

With increasing emphasis in the heat preserved foods sector on the development and launch of new products, ingredients are being used in new and more complex formulations. Establishing heat processes to achieve commercial sterility while retaining product quality presents an increased challenge with these new products.

This document describes one particular approach to selecting the process requirements for newly developed products. Written with an industrial Working Party, it starts from the premise that process requirements must initially be based upon product safety, and then sets out to clarify the factors to be considered in addressing product quality and/or spoilage in relation to the thermal process administered. It includes two worked examples which illustrate the application of the approach, a glossary of terms and a list of useful references.

The contents include:

• Introduction
• Training of those responsible for establishing processes
• HACCP approach and process validation
• Raw materials and packaging
• Manufacturing process
• Objective of thermal processing
• Retort process
• Process evaluation
• Validation
• Documentation of scheduled processes
• Process deviations and failures of commercial sterility
• Worked examples - peas in brine and pasta with meat in tomato sauce
• References, abbreviations and glossary
• Appendices - Microbiological methods and cook value calculations

Softcover - 56 pages