When developing a new recipe, everyone starts out small. At home, that’s just a matter of convenience: no reason to make a huge batch of something you’re not certain is going to win over everyone at the table. But for those in the food and beverage industry, starting small is a necessity: industrial retorts are enormous processing equipment meant for mass production. The chambers are typically 5,000 to 25,000 litres, with the machines ranging from the size of a truck to that of a shipping container. That’s a whole lot of ham and banana hollandaise.

Until you’re certain that you’ve nailed the recipe and are ready for mass production, the pilot retort is the food lab’s hero.
Pilot retorts are smaller, more compact sterilising autoclaves used for research and development. Food scientists and engineers use them for small-batch recipes and to tinker with new packaging ideas on a smaller scale, without the expense or hassle of firing up a full-scale retort. Pilot retorts have a much smaller footprint than full industrial retorts. Some models are even used for small-scale production.

Units range from a tabletop autoclave to those with chambers of just a few hundred litres; that’s smaller than a typical vending machine. But these pilot retorts are packed with features that allow them to perfectly emulate the conditions created by full-scale industrial retorts.

Pilot Retorts in the Food Industry Laboratory

There are four primary uses for a pilot retort in a food lab:

• Product Development: Companies use pilot retort systems to create new shelf-stable foods (like canned food, retort pouches, or ready-to-eat meals) and determine exactly how much heat is needed for safe sterilisation while optimising taste and texture.
• Food Processing Simulation: Laboratory retorts can mimic the exact conditions of large-scale production retorts. This pilot-scale testing ensures that a recipe perfected in the lab will scale up correctly to the factory floor, without sacrificing product quality.
• Packaging Testing: Food industry manufacturers simulate how different containers (e.g., cans, glass jars, flexible pouches, and plastic trays) handle agitation, saturated steam, water immersion, water spray, or a thermal process to ensure they don’t burst or deform. 
• Calculating F0 Values: Using retorts for research and data collection helps technicians calculate and validate the precise “delivered F0 value,” confirming that new products, processes, and packaging approaches are still reliably destroying dangerous bacteria prior to shipping.

Using Priorclave Autoclave as Laboratory Retorts for Sterilisation and Packaging

Priorclave customers in the food and beverage industry use their Priorclave autoclaves to quickly and efficiently test new packaging and food prep methods, smoothing the transition from food concept to full-scale production. Major food processors and distributors like Symington’s, for example, use their Priorclaves to help them develop long-lasting, shelf-stable packaging, as well as new recipes that lock in nutrition and flavour. Symington’s invested in compressed air ballast-equipped Priorclave autoclaves, allowing them to work out all the details and test retortable packaging prototypes, confident that what they worked out in the lab would smoothly transition to large-scale production.

Similarly, the Nestlé company uses a steam-air autoclave for sterilisation of pre-processing and raw cocoa beans in their R&D lab. No one wants their chocolate bar to taste tinny or have an unpleasant crumbly texture. Nestlé tests out their processes on a smaller-scale with a Priorclave steriliser, which ensures steam penetration to the surface of all beans during a cycle as a validated kill step that also releases deeper and more complex flavours.

Batch Test with a Priorclave Lab Retort System to Save Time, Money, and Resources

Reliable research and development is an essential step to validation of the best possible processes, packaging, and products. Priorclave is proud to support food and beverage innovation and R&D with our custom-built autoclaves. Let us help you design the perfect autoclave for your laboratory pilot retort needs. Reach out anytime—we look forward to setting you on the path to reliable, efficient batch testing.