Development the ready-to-heat foods with cooked rice aseptically packed (KAGOME DELI)

Abstract

Sales of the ready-to-heat foods with cooked rice aseptically packed have increased manyfold in Japan over the past 10 years. Cooked rice aseptically packed is better taste and higher quality, as compared with retort-pouch cooked rice. KAGOME DELI that was started to sale from 1999 by KAGOME Co., Ltd., was very unique in microwave oven cooking foods. It was made up of the cooked rice aseptically packed and the retort-pouch cooking sauce (eg. for Risotto, Chicken Rice, and Doria). Consumer could cook these using a microwave oven during two minutes only, and take in the low-calorie (lower 300 kcal/menu). In this report, two technical considerations were suggested on the development process of KAGOME DELI. These were (1) microorganism control, (2) package development, for cooked rice aseptically packed. To improve safety of the cooked rice aseptically packed, it is preferable that cooked rice is adjusted pH 4.9 or below and 5.0% or more oxygen concentration of head space. And higher usability package for cooked rice was able to be developed by understanding the relation between the strength of sealing and peeling.