Shelf Stable Beverage Industry

STOCK America specializes in providing solutions to the low acid shelf stable beverage market. Our wide range of Retort Room product offerings allows beverage processors to stair step their growth from entry level all the way to a fully automated batch or continuous operations with can retorts. Whether your product is ready to drink coffee or tea based formulations with a dairy content, energy drinks with a low acid pH (greater than 4.6), or a complex nutraceutical beverage, STOCK is well positioned to be your processing partner from concept to commercial sale. Since 1975, the STOCK brand has been the leader in retort technology suited for processing low acid beverages.

RETORTABLE CONTAINER SELECTION

The Retort Container for your product is a critical selection for product presentation in the market. These specialty hermetically sealed containers are designed to survive in a retort with elevated temperatures and pressure.

For beverages categories the current typical retortable containers are:

Energy Drinks – Cylindrical Cans with pop-top lids using various diameters and heights

RTD Coffee and Tea – Glass Jars with threaded screw type caps typically between 9-14-ounce sizes

Nutraceutical Drinks – Plastic bottles with threaded screw type caps of various shapes for vitamin supplements and baby formula

BEVERAGE RETORTING

Most shelf stable beverages require agitation in the can retort process to ensure that the product does not scorch or burn. The most common agitating processing solution for vertically oriented containers such as glass jars or beverage cans is the water immersion process with end over product rotation. The movement of the product in the container provides outstanding heat transfer to the product as the heat exchanges from the container walls to the product more efficiently. The STOCK Rotary Immersion Retort has been producing shelf stable beverages for over 45 years.

MACHINERY VERSATILITY FROM CONCEPT TO GROCERY SHELF

STOCK America has partnered with processors ranging in size from start-up Companies to large CPG processors. In order to provide shelf stable beverage processing solutions that accommodate a wide market, STOCK’s line of Water Immersion agitating retorts are offered in multiple custom diameters and lengths to provide the most economic and efficient options depending on line speed and container geometry.

In addition, STOCK offers Material Handling Solutions to manage the product from the f/seamer and Load Process Unload the Retort for a hand-off to secondary packaging. The Material Handling and Tracking of the product is integral for maintaining the highest level of food safety and FDA/USDA regulatory compliance. The modularity of the STOCK Material Handling options allows processors to tailor the level of automation to fit their Capital Budget with a path to upgrade to tiers that can eventually lead to only 1 operator running the processing area.

STOCK AMERICA TECHNICAL SUPPORT

In the Shelf Stable Beverage Market, STOCK America combines a very mature product line along with decades of technical expertise under one roof. We have been instrumental in guiding beverage companies from concept to successful shelf stable ready to drink beverages. We are proud to have in house Pilot Plant Retorts for running both batch and continuous beverage products to assist in providing customers with product formulation and test product. From Start-up processors to large CPG companies, STOCK America is positioned as an experienced partner is providing successful beverage lines with a justifiable return on capital investments.