Food Pouch

Where is the food produced for HOT PACK® self-heating meals?

• HOT PACK® meals are manufactured in a government approved food processing plant in Canada.
  
  

How long can I keep HOT PACK® meals before I use them?

• Depending on how they are stored, HOT PACK® meal pouches have a minimum five year dating on them and can be eaten long after this, providing the pouch is still sealed and has not been damaged. The process compares to a can of food.
  
  

As in all canned foods, the meal pouches must not be perforated, bent or abused in any way.

A can of food can be kept for a good 10 years. Are you implying that this is the same?

• Yes, but like anything else, while safety of product is maintained, there will be certain flavour losses over a long time. Excessive heat or freezing will also have an effect.
  
  

How can the food keep so long without spoiling?

• The food pouch is filled and sterilized with super heated steam. Each pouch is foil lined with a special tri-laminated polypropylene material which acts as an occlusive barrier to elements or bacteria. The pouch is tri-laminated. This ensures there is no food contact with the aluminum foil pouch.
  

If the meal pouch is bloated but appears undamaged, is the food edible?

• No. Do not eat it. On very rare occasions, a pouch could be damaged with a minute pinhole. This would allow air to contaminate the food. We will replace the meal.
  

Food in a can takes on a metallic taste. Is this the same for food in a pouch?

• No! The tri-lamination inside the pouch obviates this.
  
  

What happens if the food freezes?

• Because the food is contained in a flexible aluminum foil pouch, the pouch will not burst on defrosting. HOT PACK® meals can be used normally with the heater sleeve. If it should burst - DO NOT USE!
  
  

Like all freezing cycles, the structural integrity of some foods may be somewhat affected (particle sizes get smaller). The rule is avoid freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw cycles as much as possible.

Is the food good?

• Very! Before introducing HOT PACK® self-heating meals, the recipes were tried and tested by many. The taste is excellent. Tasting is believing!
  
  

Over 3 million pouches are produced each year..

Is this food manufactured by a reputable company?

• The Canadian manufacturer of this food has a federal government seal of approval (see the Crown and number 119) on the pack. This seal means that an Agriculture Canada inspector is on site and inspects the premises to insure that the meals are prepared to a specific recipe and standard..

Are these balanced meals?

• The recipes have been designed to meet the demands of todays' health conscious individual. They were then submitted to Agriculture Canada who carefully review all the ingredients, recipe and nutritional profile before giving their seal of approval. Without this approval number, the meals could not be produced and sold.
  
  

Are there any additives or preservatives in the food?

• HOT PACK® meals are not made safe with additives or preservatives. All menus contain wholesome ingredients. No additives or preservatives are added to make up the recipe.
  
  

Sulfites are sometimes used by processors of potatoes to keep these white and are considered to be preservatives. In some cases, the potatoes that are bought have sulfites in them. We do not add additional sulfites to the recipes. Nitrates are considered to be additives. Tomatoes produce their own nitric acid and could be considered an additive. We do not add additional amounts to the recipes. MSG naturally occurs in soya. We do use soya products but never add MSG to any of our recipes.