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I. J. BRITT, Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

Hot-fill-hold processing technologies have been used extensively for pasteurization of low acid foods and commercial sterilization of acid or acidified foods. Traditionally, these products have been packaged in glass and metal containers; however, new polymers and converting technologies now allow the use of plastic containers for these applications. The purpose of this presentation is to review the underlying principles of pasteurization and to examine the processing parameters which must be addressed to sucessfully use plastic packaging materials for hot-fill-hold processes.