The performance of organic and inorganic coated retort pouch materials on the shelf life of ready-to-eat
(RTE) rice products was investigated. Two different retort pouch structures were used: the organic
material coated retort pouch (ORG), organic material coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/biaxially
oriented nylon (BON)/cast polypropylene (CPP); the inorganic material coated retort pouch (IND),
aluminum oxide coated PET/BON/CPP. Two specific cooked rice products, plain and chicken-flavored
cooked rice, were utilized for the comparison. For quantitative analysis, moisture content and lightness
of the rice products were measured. The moisture content of both the plain and chicken-flavored rice
packed in either pouch decreased slightly during the 12 week storage time after retort processing.
However, there were no significant differences in quantitative analysis between the ORG and IND for
both the plain and chicken-flavored cooked rice. A simple paired comparison test was used to evaluate
the sensory characteristics of rice products. Overall, there were no significant sensory differences
between the ORG and IND for both the plain and the chicken-flavored cooked rice. These results
demonstrated that the newly developed ORG can be used as a retort pouch material for RTE rice
products.