Hot Fill Hold Process SOP for Acidified Foods
Hello - Does anyone have an SOP for inversion of containers after hot fill hold to share?
We are producing formulated acidified sauces in glass jars which are inverted after fill according to our process authority's instructions. I'd like to have something to post in the production area for the employees as a reference. TIA!
is it a manual process?
Good question! The jars are machine filled and capped, then hand-filled into cases and hand palletized.
You could post a "Did you know?" and include a few details from your process authority letter. I am sure it states in the letter how long the inversion must occur to sterilize the lid.
Turn your process letter into work instructions
Bring ingredients to X temp
Cook for X minutes at X temp
Clean/rinse jars
Prewarm lids? (maybe yes maybe no)
Load clean jars/lids into machine
Once X minutes of cook elapses and temp of sauce is X, begin filling jars
As the come down line line, starting at the far end of the table, place jars lid side down on the table, once the table is full, start timer.
DO NOT move jars until the timer from the last jar placed goes off
Invert upright, pack into case and close
Scampi - Thank you, simple and basically foolproof. I was having drawing an blank on this, perhaps a vacation is in order....