Food > Fish and Seafood > Product Inspection > Flexible Retort Pouch Defects Manual 

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

31/05/2002

To download in Adobe PDF
format, click here

This is a compliance manual for flexible pouch defect identification and classification. It is intended as a reference manual for use by quality control and inspection personnel tasked to evaluate the integrity of flexible retort pouches. Container integrity is the ability of an hermetically sealed container to deliver safe wholesome food to the consumer. Container integrity may be compromised by a wide variety of defects. These defects may arise throughout the various stages of container manufacturing, filling, sealing, processing, and handling, before the container reaches the consumer.

The material in this manual will:

1. provide a basis for assessment of container integrity, by using standard criteria;
2. assist in communicating specific defect conditions, by using standardised terminology; and
3. provide a severity classification of the various defect types, by using standard criteria.

These defect classification standards are applicable to both domestic and imported product.

This manual also provides some general information on flexible pouch manufacturing (including factors on pouch integrity and thermal processing) and testing procedures, of which inspectors and pouch processors should be aware. The information contained in Chapters 2, 3, and 4 is included for reference purposes; specific compliance standards for processing and thermal processing may be found in the CFIA Facilities Inspection Manual.

Table of Contents | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8