ABSTRACT
Once the bastion of the military in the form of meals-ready-
to-eat (MREs), retortable pouches, either sold refrigerated
or as a shelf stable product, are becoming increasingly
more popular and continue to impact the can market espe-
cially in hotel, restaurants, and institutions (HRI), markets
in which the pouch is replacing the No. 10 can as a con-
venience to the end user. The pouches were developed in
the 1950s by U.S. Army Natick Research, Development
and Engineering (RD&E) Center but were not popular with
HRI or consumers until recently. The packaging problem
with pouches in the retail market was that high-impact
graphics with extensive distribution of ink challenged the
adhesives of the lamination procedure. Then came high-
temperature urethane adhesives to prevent delamination,
and the consumer was afforded maximum labeling infor-
mation. Now, even the pharmaceutical industry is consid-
ering the advantages of pouches, and some companies are
converting their packaging of enterals (nutrients/medic-
inals for direct delivery into the gastrointestinal tract) to
pouches. The retail market offers consumers tuna fish for
sandwich making and foods for their pets in stand-up
pouches. Other retail products include chipped beef in
gravy, a vegetable and rice dish, which is an extended
shelf life product, sold refrigerated and is not shelf stable,
Halal and Kosher foods, beef and broth, chili, hot dogs, and
chicken patties, and new on the Canadian market, rice and
pasta dishes.
