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Feature
Preservation technologies in RTE foods
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Monday, 04 October, 2010, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
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"Convenience food, or tertiary processed food, is commercially prepared food designed for ease of consumption. Products designated as convenience foods are often prepared food stuffs that can be sold as hot, ready-to-eat dishes; as room temperature, shelf-stable products; or refrigerated, frozen products, or dry mixes that require minimal preparation," according to Wikipedia.
Convenience food is ready-to-eat or ready-to-cook processed food that requires minimum preparation before eating - just cut open the packet, heat it, preferably in a microwave, and eat it. With more and more couples going out for work, rise in income levels, change in food habits and lifestyles, the demand for ready-to-eat (RTE) food is growing fast. The consumer is also happy about the convenience that these foods offer, along with competitive pricing, improved quality and trendier & attractive packaging. The Indian RTE food sector is worth Rs 250 billion and is growing fast.
Since MRE (meals ready-to-eat) and RTEs have long shelf life, are portion-packed and thermo-sealed, they can now be retailed like an FMCG product, across the counter, without the trouble of portioning and the wastage and spoilage associated with fresh food retail. Mass-produced or mass-distributed ready meals would indeed revolutionise marketing and retailing of food and meals. Convenienc foods include products such as packaged Indian curries and pulavs as marketed by Bangalore-based MTR, processed meats and cheeses, canned fish and meat products, dairy products, fruit juices and health drinks, snacks and nuts, noodles, soups and a hoist of other products that can be consumed directly without cooking.
Long shelf life of RTE food is made possible due to advancements in the food preservation technology. As a matter of fact, all food items begin to deteriorate from the time the food is cooked or processed. Food needs to be preserved to keep it edible beyond its spoilage threshold. Several processes and technologies are used for food preservation, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The MRE/RTE preservation can be divided into the following categories - Ambient, Chilled and Frozen.
Ambient MRE
Ambient MRE was a spin-off from the "retort" technology developed for the Apollo space missions. MRE technology is improved further and it has a long shelf life of more than one year at ambient temperature and excellent storageability. In the retort process, the food is pre-cooked, packed and sealed in polymer pouches that are further encased in protective holders and placed in the retort. The pouches are sterilized at 121 degree Celsius and 15-pound pressure per sq inch for a pre-determined duration, resulting in elimination of bacterial spores that cause food poisoning or decaying. These pouches have shelf life of more than one year at room temperature and only need to be warmed before consumption.
India's most reputed food research institutes -Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) and the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), both based in Mysore, have developed the retort process of RTE food. There are half-a-dozen Indian companies that are marketing ethnic Indian meals in retort pouches - curries, parathas, pulavs, combo meals (daal plus chawal) and so on. ITC Foods, MTR, Tasty Bite, and Kohinoor offer ready meals that are "thermo-stabilised" through the use of retort technology. Retort technology is most suitable for western cuisine - having low cooking oil and spices. But the process causes a drastic change in the taste profile of almost all ethnic Indian dishes, having high cooking oil contents and sharper spices. A few weeks in a retort pack will make food milder and leaves an unpleasant after-taste. Most ethnic Indian foods that have chunks (or pieces) are damaged in the processor during its handling (packing, transportation, storage and so on).
The sterilisation process ensures the stability of the RTE foods in retort pouches. The food is heated to a high temperature, which completely destroys all potentially harmful micro-organisms. High temperature, however, causes minor chemical changes in the oil that give off-flavour (bitter after-taste). The application of sterilisation technology makes sure that the food has a very long shelf life of 24-36 months. However, in the current commercial context, the shelf life is limited to one year.
Retort pouches
Retort pouches are flexible packages made from multi-layered plastic films, with or without aluminium foil as one of the layers. Their most important feature is that they are made of heat-resistant plastics, unlike the usual flexible pouches. This makes the retort pouches uniquely suitable for the processing of their food contents at temperatures around 120 degree Celsius. That is the kind of ambient temperature prevalent in the thermal sterilisation of foods.
The three-ply laminate consisting of PET/Al oil /PP is the most common material used in retort pouches and is the only one used in India. ITC uses four-layered pouches. The use of PET or polyester as the outer layer gives the required strength to the pouch. The aluminium foil serves as a barrier layer ensuring a shelf life of more than one year. The nylon layer provides strength to the pouch, re-assuring additional shelf life. The innermost layer of polypropylene provides the critical seal integrity, flexibility, strength and taste and odour compatibility for a variety of food products.
Chilled RTE
Chilled RTE is normally cooked food that is chilled and stored at 4 degree Celsius to prolong its shelf life from 4-6 hours to 36-48 hours. Normally, it is not packed, and sold by the weight. It has the taste profile that is closest to the freshly cooked food. As a result, it has been driving sales in the West. Chilled RTE has not yet caught the fancy of Indian retailers primarily due to supply-chain limitations, short shelf life and logistic bottlenecks. However, chilled 'ready-to-cook' meats are gaining popularity in the market.
Frozen MRE/RTE
These are cryo-mechanically frozen microwavable ready meals that, upon microwaving, dish up 'fresh-like' meals of 'home-cooking-like' taste profile, which are difficult to distinguish from meal freshly cooked from a scratch. Several F&B retailing chains are already using this technology in their operations. Super InstaMeal, a Delhi-based R&D company, has developed this unique technology that makes it possible to freeze (almost) any and all culinary products. It creates a wide variety of innovative, worldclass frozen microwavable RTE products, such as snacks, meals, soups, starters, entrees, desserts, Indian mithai, bakery products, other finger foods and so on, which are hygienic, nutritious, healthy and scrumptious. Upon microwaving, they regain aroma, taste, flavour and texture of the meal freshly cooked from a scratch.
While InstaMeal products are vastly superior to 'retort packed' RTE products in terms of taste (and texture) profile and the range of offering. While only about 20-25 ethnic Indian dishes are retortable, InstaMeal can prepare (almost) any ethnic Indian product, of any shape, size or texture. More importantly, frozen InstaMeal retains all nutrients. Indeed studies have shown frozen food to better retain nutrients, due to expert handling, than the stored fresh food. On the contrary, retort-packed food loses most nutrients during the retorting process and during the storage. However, freezing pre-cooked ethnic Indian food presented several hurdles. The major problem faced during freezing food is loss of flavour and taste, hardening of meats, separation (of curry), freeze burns (discolouration), dehy
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