Hello, we are manufacturing a relish type of food product, and I have been struggling with getting the packaging process down for it.
The food product that has a final pH of 4.4. Reducing the pH below 4.2 is undesirable for the flavor.
The food product must be shelf stable and cannot require refrigeration.
It is important that the bottle is clear and squeezable. Because of this, we want to package this into a PET bottle, but they unfortunately start to deform between 140 to 150 degrees F. We are using induction liners to seal the product.
Polypropylene bottles would be better since they are more resistant to heat, but we have not had any luck sourcing a suitable polypropylene bottle (they are not the right shape, or too rigid and not easily squeezable). They are also not very clear (more semi-translucent/natural plastic looking). It was also recommended that we try a heat-set PET bottle, but these are typically only used for beverages, are much thicker and more rigid, and have ridges in them to prevent deformation. We could not find a heat-set PET squeeze bottle.
I have a couple questions:
1. Looking at the "hot fill hold" charts of temperature vs time vs pH, can you theoretically bring the food product to 185 degrees, then cool it to say 144, fill at 144 degrees, and then give it a water bath (also at 144 degrees) for 52 minutes?
2. I am reading that you are allowed to do the "cold fill hold" process if the pH is less than 4.3. Does this mean I can pasteurize the food, then rapidly cool it, and then fill it at a much lower temperature into a sanitized bottle and induction liner? We have been sanitizing bottles and liners with starsan for example.
3. Any other good options?
I've been trying to read through papers, and been asking chatGPT for help, and I am getting a lot of mixed and conflicting info, so I figured I should ask you guys.
Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
