Since the approval of hydrogen peroxide as a package sterilant by the Food and Drug Administration in January 1981, aseptic processing has exploded onto the U.S. marketplace. In fact, during the summer of 1989, an expert panel from the Institute of Food Technologists voted aseptic technology as the food industry’s top innovation of the past 50 years. The major commercial success to date has been the aseptic processing of high acid fruit juices and fruit drinks, particularly when packaged in the 250 ml, single serve, laminated paper box. (Slide 2) Over three billion unit volumes were sold in 1989. This represents greater than a 12% increase over 1988 and means aseptic packaging has captured a larger unit volume than any other food packaging technology has ever done in so short a time.
This paper will look at the technologies involved as they relate to citrus juices, the precautions which should be taken to optimize the product, and the promises which the future holds.
Paper published with permission.
