I have seen how the CANNERS go into great expense and details of doing a lot of things for safety reasons(!). But then I wonder how the people in the commercial food industry do it. I buy, for example, chicken and beef stock that come in paper containers (not in metal can, not in glass !!!). And I have never gotten sick or anything. (O I take back that one. You won.t buy that)

anyway, how they can do it but you , the home canners, cannot ? I am sure those paper container cannot withstand boiling temperatures and they are not vacuumed packed either.

I am taking the FDA's Better Process Control School for acidified foods next month and don't know how much detail is going to be provided on the large-scale commercial process (this is a 2-day course for farmers, not the usual 4-day course) but will share info here afterwards.

Depending on the food they use irradiation, pasteurization, high temp flash pasteurization, added preservatives and stabilizers, and high pressure and temperature room-sized autoclaves. None of which we can do at home.

Dave

The containers are sterilized separately from the food using a 30% H2O2 solution (hydrogen peroxide).

The food (broth, tomatoes, whatever) is heated up to 295 degrees F for just a few seconds (3 to 5 usually) and goes into a sterile environment, where it is packaged into the sterile containers.

If you have an extra $100,000,000 you, too, can do it at "home".