Process guide
Retort Co-Packers for Pouches, Cans, and Trays
Use retort when the SKU is low-acid ambient — meal, broth, plant milk, pouch, can, or tray — pH greater than 4.6, commercially sterile. The kill step is a scheduled cook of the already-closed pack. Texture is cooked. That is the trade.
Do not send high-acid juice or hot sauce that can take a hot fill. Do not send refrigerated or never-heated SKUs (that is HPP). Spores survive HPP; HPP will not make low-acid soup ambient.
LACF filing, pouch vs can vs tray, and the full decision table sit in the textbook below.
Retort co-packers
Facts below are from the plant’s own pages fetched 21 Aug 2026. If a cell is blank on their site, it is Unknown, ask the manufacturer. This is not a complete census.
Omitted from this table
- Truitt Bros as a standalone listing: now Baxters North America.
- MACRO Brands (macrobrands.llc): publishes retort canning 12/8/8.4 oz. California city unpublished. Not a ninth table row.
- CoPack Connect retorting page: textbook only; no named plants.
- Plants that do not say retort on their own site, closed plants, and non-US plants. Directory cards are not used as plant facts.
| Plant | City / state | Formats / process as stated | Certs published | MOQ published | USDA vs FDA | Organic | Site | Sources reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Brands LLC | California and Southern California plants (cities unpublished). Homepage: nationwide canning & bottling. | Cans 5.5–16 oz (SoCal 8–16 oz); jars 7–32 oz; retortable bowls; stand-up or flat pouches. SoCal: low-acid retort beverages; glass 8 oz. | Homepage: SQF, GFSI, Organic, Kosher — held cert vs “ability to meet” not separated. Footer FDA.gov is not a registration claim. | Retort page: 100K units per SKU. The 25,000-unit bottled-beverage figure belongs to the separate hot-fill line. | Unpublished on the retort page | Capability, not a named certifier | Retort · Process | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Berner Food & Beverage | Dakota, IL. Warehouse: Rockford, IL. Copy also: “just outside of Chicago.” | Rotary retort + HTST. RTD coffee/tea, dips, sauces, aerosol cheese. Closes jars; suppliers bottles/jars/cans. Low-acid / high-pH. | SQF2000 Level III; organic certified; HACCP. | Unpublished | Private-label: “Registering the product with the FDA.” FSIS: unpublished. | Organic stated | Home · Make it happen | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Walker’s Fresh Foods | North Kansas City, MO | Cold mix, kettle, retort cooking. Specialty RTE shelf life 35–60 days (not ambient sterility). Retort pack formats: unpublished. | GFSI certified. “Audited and certified by the FDA and USDA”; Costco audits. SQF vs BRC: unpublished. | Unpublished (“quantities large or small”) | FDA and USDA named; room split unpublished. | Unpublished | Co-packing · Food safety | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Thermal Kitchen | Daytona Beach, FL | Spouted pouches 2–16 oz; water-spray, no/minimal particulates. Broths, sauces, baby food, and beverages. High-acid products use the separately described tunnel-pasteurization path. | SQF since 2024; FDA registered; USDA inspected. Organic controls documented. | Unpublished | FDA-registered and USDA inspected stated. Rooms: unpublished. | Controls documented; certifier unpublished | thermalkitchen.com | Aug 25, 2026 |
| SOPAKCO | Mullins, SC HQ; Bennettsville, SC. About: three US facilities — third city unpublished. | Retort + hot-fill + frozen. Pouches 2 oz–6 lb; spout pouches; bowls/trays 5–16 oz; meal kits. | SQF; USDA on-site / FSIS. Kosher, GF, Non-GMO, USDA Organic, Halal listed as claims they help you meet — not always-on certs. | Unpublished | USDA on-site / FSIS stated | Labeling-help language, not a current cert PDF | About · Pouch · Bowls/trays | Aug 25, 2026 |
| AmeriQual Foods | Evansville, IN | Retort spouted (pre-formed + FFS), pillow (pre-formed + HFFS), gusseted stand-up; rigid containers. Low-acid foods; also DoD / MRE. | SQF Level 3; FDA; HACCP; USDA–AMS; USDA–FSIS; Oregon Tilth; on-site TPA. | Unpublished | FDA and USDA–FSIS stated | Oregon Tilth stated | Contract manufacturing · About | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Select Brands, LLC | Springfield, MO | Retort + hot fill (low- and high-acid). Gusseted 6–16 oz; spouted 3–16 oz; pillow 4–40 oz. Broth, soups, entrees, “USDA products.” | USDA/FDA registered; SQF; BSCI. Offered: USDA Organic, Non-GMO, GFCO / Whole Grain “upon request.” | Minimum unpublished. Runs “can range from 10,000 to over 100,000 pouches.” “Smaller minimum orders” — no number. | USDA/FDA registered. “USDA products” is a category, not a room map. | USDA Organic offered | Capabilities · Quality | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Baxters North America | Salem, OR; East Bernstadt, KY. HQ: Cincinnati, OH | Static and rotational retorts. Pillow / stand-up / HFFS / fitment / large spouted; bowls/trays/cups. Shelf-stable RTE and frozen. | SQF Level 3 Certified; HACCP; TPA on staff. Capabilities page also says SQF Level 3 approved vendors and “Compliant for HACCP, FDA, USDA, and Organic.” | Unpublished | FDA and USDA as compliance; rooms unpublished | Compliance language; certifier unpublished | Capabilities · Packaging · Quality | Aug 25, 2026 |
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways. Cells are not smashed.
How to read the MOQ column
Published minimums are not comparable units. Big Brands quotes 100k units/SKU on the retort page only. Select Brands publishes a run range (10k–100k+ pouches), not a floor. If MOQ is unpublished, assume nothing. Walker’s “large or small” is not a number.
Process decision (before you request contact help)
| Your SKU | First question | If yes | If no |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broth, plant milk, protein drink, dairy RTD, low-acid soup, pH > 4.6 ambient | LACF? Hermetic pack, aw > 0.85? | Retort (or aseptic). File a schedule. Berner (dairy RTD), Thermal Kitchen (spouted, no chunks), Big Brands (100k units/SKU), Select Brands (pouch). | Do not send it to a juice hot-fill line. |
| Ambient meal, entree, sides, baby food in pouch/tray/bowl | Need commercial sterility? | SOPAKCO / AmeriQual / Baxters / Select Brands. | “Never heated” + refrigerated → HPP. |
| High-acid juice, tea, hot sauce that can take 185–200°F | Finished pH ≤ 4.6 in time? | Hot fill, not this page. | If pH will not hold ≤ 4.6 ambient → retort. |
| Meat-containing ambient meal | USDA-FSIS or FDA? | AmeriQual publishes USDA–FSIS. SOPAKCO publishes USDA on-site / FSIS. | Do not assume Berner’s dairy retort is a meat line. |
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways — cells are not smashed.
Request contact help
If a plant in the table fits pH, format, and published minimum, open its profile and request contact help. The Line List reviews the request and follows up by email; it does not promise a direct relationship or a response. See the retort directory cards.
What retort is, LACF, pouch vs can vs tray, decision table, gaps, sources
Textbook — after the shortlist
What retort actually is
Retort is a scheduled thermal process after seal. Product is filled into a hermetically sealed container, then the closed pack is cooked in a pressure vessel (the retort). The kill step is the cook of the already-closed pack, not the fill temperature. When the schedule is met, the pack is commercially sterile and ambient-stable.
Three plants publish that sequence on their own sites:
- Berner: close the product, then cook it in a large vessel at high temperature under pressurization.
- Thermal Kitchen: fill spouted pouches, seal, then cook in a pressurized water-spray vessel.
- Big Brands: retort “sterilizes and pasteurizes” beverages they describe as pH greater than 4.5. FDA’s LACF line is 4.6, not 4.5 — use a process authority, not their marketing pH.
It is the wrong process when you are selling “never heated,” live cultures, or a refrigerated set — that is HPP. It is also the wrong process when the formula acidifies to pH ≤ 4.6 in time and can take a hot fill.
Low-acid scheduled process
FDA’s LACF pages: commercial processors of shelf-stable acidified and low-acid canned foods in hermetically sealed containers sold in the US must register each establishment and file a scheduled process per product, style, container, and method (21 CFR 108).
A thermal process authority (TPA) establishes the scheduled process. Published: AmeriQual on-site TPA; Baxters TPA on staff; Thermal Kitchen third-party TPA. Nobody published a Form 2541d SID for a customer SKU.
What is still unpublished (do not invent it)
- Numeric retort MOQ except Big Brands (100k units/SKU). Select Brands publishes a 10k–100k+ run range, not a floor.
- City for Big Brands’ California plants; SOPAKCO’s third US facility.
- Walker’s retort formats (they say retort; RTE specialty is 35–60 days, not commercial sterility).
- Continuous hydrostatic at any plant here.
Sources fetched 21 Aug 2026 are on each company page. Truitt Bros is omitted as a separate row (now Baxters); MACRO Brands is omitted as a table row (city unpublished).