Prepared meals, packaged and ready to be consumed after heating or hydrating, are convenience products that are increasingly popular in a society where convenience and quick preparation are key.

In this section, we focus on prepared meals that require pasteurization or sterilization before being marketed. We’ll guide you through the steps to follow before applying a thermal treatment, the requirements to ensure they meet your standards, and how to prevent the packaging from deforming or breaking. If you’re in the business of preparing ready-to-eat meals, stay tuned to this article.

Gourmet prepared meals: A healthy solution for busy lifestyles

Prepared meals come in many varieties, but here, we focus on gourmet options—high-quality culinary creations featuring diverse recipes and premium ingredients without artificial preservatives or colorings.

It’s always a good idea to keep some of these meals on hand because:

They can save the day when you don’t have time to cook.
They offer a delicious and healthy dining option at an affordable price.

If you want to explore the nutritional benefits of the various ingredients found in prepared meals, take a look at the detailed food sterilization articles we’ve created for you.

Consumption of prepared meals

It’s obvious that ready-made meals will never fully replicate the experience of freshly cooked homemade food. However, enjoying a gourmet prepared meal with vegetables, legumes, fish, and/or meat is far healthier than opting for fast food that lacks such variety in ingredients.

You might be among those who believe that canned foods and prepared meals always contain additives for preservation and that neither can match the nutritional and mineral value of fresh foods.

At TERRA Food-Tech^®, we assure you that these are persistent myths about canned and ready-made meals. Thanks to the thermal treatment they undergo to eliminate microorganisms, spores, and enzymes, and their hermetically sealed packaging, food spoilage is prevented, and recontamination is avoided. For this reason, adding preservatives is often unnecessary to extend shelf life.

On the consumption side, according to the 2022 Food and Health Survey published by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), the global market for ready-to-eat foods is expected to grow by 4.89% between 2022 and 2027. The same study highlights a growing awareness among consumers of the link between healthy eating, psychological well-being, physical exercise, body care, and stress management.

Pi-Datametrics, a platform that analyzes online search trends, reports that searches for terms like “mood-boosting foods” increased by 50% in 2022 compared to the previous year. This reflects the interest, particularly among Millennials and Gen Z, in foods that are easy to prepare, require minimal effort, and are also healthy.

Types of prepared meals

According to Spanish regulations outlining hygiene standards for the preparation, distribution, and sale of ready-made meals, “prepared dishes are culinary creations resulting from raw preparation, cooking, or pre-cooking of one or more food products of animal or plant origin, with or without the addition of other authorized substances, and, if applicable, seasoned. They can be packaged or unpackaged and ready for consumption either directly or after reheating or further culinary preparation.”

Based on this definition, prepared meals can be categorized into the following types:

Sterilized prepared meals (II range)

Meals of various bases, hermetically sealed and subjected to temperatures above 100°C.

Frozen prepared meals (III range)

Products frozen at -20°C or ultra-frozen at -40°C.

Processed vegetables and greens (IV range)

Fresh vegetables and greens that are pre-prepared (washed, peeled, and cut) and packaged in modified atmospheres.

Refrigerated prepared meals (V range)

Pre-cooked meals refrigerated and packaged in an inert atmosphere. These must be kept chilled and typically have a shelf life of around 3-4 months.

Prepared meals

As mentioned earlier, this guide focuses on II and V range preparations—sterilized or pasteurized prepared meals. These can be found in many varieties, either on supermarket shelves or in the refrigerated section of gourmet stores.

Here are just a few examples, including some crafted by our clients:

Meatballs in sauce
Beans in sauce
Squid with sausage
Cannelloni with meat
Duroc pork ribs
Lentil stew
Fideuá (seafood noodle dish)
Chickpeas with mushrooms
Chickpeas with spinach
Broad beans with ham
Lentils with vegetables
Macaroni Bolognese
Vegetable medley
Ratatouille
Piquillo peppers stuffed with filling
Baby squid in garlic sauce

Remember, to market your prepared meals, it is mandatory to apply a preservation method, such as pasteurization or sterilization, to comply with your country’s current health and hygiene regulations, ensuring they are safe for consumption.

How to prepare ready-to-eat meals

As with any preserved food, the first step is to thoroughly clean and prepare the ingredients before packaging.

If you’re using our autoclaves, which also allow for cooking food, we recommend not fully cooking your prepared meals beforehand. This ensures they finish cooking inside the autoclave during the thermal treatment, preventing overcooking.

Sterilizing ready-to-eat meals

Determining whether a ready-to-eat meal has been pasteurized or sterilized is simple: if you find it in the supermarket’s refrigerated section, it has been pasteurized. If it’s on a shelf at room temperature, it has been sterilized.

Sterilization involves temperatures exceeding 100°C, eradicating all microorganisms and extending the product’s shelf life without refrigeration.

On the other hand, pasteurization uses lower temperatures, removing only a portion of microorganisms since it is a less aggressive process. Consequently, pasteurized products must always be refrigerated and have a shorter shelf life.

At TERRA Food-Tech^®, we cannot definitively say which thermal treatment is best for your products, as it depends on the ingredients in your ready-to-eat meal and your desired outcome.

However, to market your prepared meals, you must adhere to food safety, quality, and hygiene regulations for preserved and ready-to-eat foods. This requires applying a thermal treatment with professional equipment like our autoclave.

We recommend focusing on the most critical ingredient in your meal—one that poses the highest risk for microbial growth—and adjusting the autoclave parameters to meet your recipe’s specific needs.

Finally, after pasteurization or sterilization, whether the meal was cooked before or during the thermal treatment, it must remain in the autoclave while the temperature drops. Using a blast chiller to cool the product quickly ensures the prevention of heat-resistant microorganisms’ growth.

pH of ready-to-eat meals

The pH of a food product determines which microorganisms can thrive in it. Lower pH values indicate higher acidity, which inhibits microbial and bacterial growth. Conversely, higher pH values are less acidic and more favorable for microbial proliferation. These factors dictate the temperature and duration of the thermal treatment required.

Acidic foods with a pH below 4.5 require less aggressive thermal treatments since microorganisms struggle to survive in acidic environments. Foods with a pH above 4.5 necessitate more rigorous processes due to the potential presence of Clostridium botulinum spores.

To accurately measure the pH of your ready-to-eat meal and determine its acidity level, we recommend using a professional pH meter. The pH value will reflect the combination of the ingredients and their proportions in the recipe.

Typically, the pH of ready-to-eat meals exceeds 4.5, reaching up to 6.0. This neutral value makes them susceptible to microbial growth, emphasizing the need for thorough thermal treatment.

F₀-P₀ values for sterilizing ready-to-eat meals

As mentioned, ready-to-eat meals can be pasteurized or sterilized. Thermal processing parameters, such as F₀ and P₀ values, are critical for minimizing changes in color, texture, aroma, and nutritional quality. These values help determine the optimal temperature-time ratio for the treatment.

The lethality achieved through this temperature-time relationship is known as F₀ for sterilization processes (temperatures above 100°C) and P₀ for pasteurization processes (temperatures below 100°C).

Generally, meals with extended shelf lives are sterilized using F₀ values between 8–10 and temperatures of 114–116°C.

These values are approximate, as they depend on various factors, including the product type, pH, ingredients, hygienic conditions in the preparation area, and pre-treatment methods.

Common challenges in sterilizing ready-to-eat meals

As previously mentioned, sterilization can have a greater impact on the organoleptic properties of the product compared to pasteurization. It may alter color, flavor, and texture, and potentially reduce the nutritional value, such as vitamin content. These changes are due to the application of high temperatures over a short period.

To mitigate these effects, it is essential to fine-tune the time and temperature values based on the specific requirements of each recipe. When working with our autoclaves, we recommend not fully cooking the meal beforehand, allowing the heat from sterilization to complete the cooking process. This approach ensures the elimination of microorganisms while minimizing changes to the product’s sensory and nutritional qualities.

The most critical bacterium to control in ready-to-eat meals is Listeria monocytogenes, which, according to microbiological regulations, must not be present in the product. Other pathogenic microorganisms to watch for include Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Staphylococcus.

At TERRA Food-Tech^®, we emphasize the importance of carefully determining the appropriate F₀-P₀ values for each product to ensure the quality and safety of your ready-to-eat meals.

Sterilization of prepared meals with TERRA Food-Tech^® autoclaves

TERRA Food-Tech^® autoclaves offer the ability to cook products before subjecting them to thermal treatments like pasteurization or sterilization. Thanks to the counterpressure they generate, they prevent container deformation. To avoid overcooking, these autoclaves feature a rapid cooling system that activates immediately after the thermal process.

If you are looking for reliability, safety, and efficiency in producing gourmet preserves, a food autoclave is the ideal choice.

With TERRA Food-Tech^® autoclaves, you can not only sterilize but also cook and pasteurize—three functions in one device.

Using our food autoclaves ensures compliance with safety, quality, and hygiene regulations for canned foods and prepared dishes. They are essential for those who wish to market these products.

TERRA Food-Tech^® autoclaves were created to meet the needs of micro-entrepreneurs, chefs, cooks, farmers, livestock producers, and social enterprises who have made gourmet preserves their life’s work.

Ready-to-eat meal success stories

Creating ready-to-eat meals is a great way to make life easier for those who often find themselves short on time or lacking cooking skills but still want to enjoy healthy, high-quality dishes.

Many of our clients understand this need and craft delicious, nutritionally complete meals. Don’t believe us? Check out our success stories section and see for yourself!

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