Custom Retort Pouches
Custom retort pouches from 100 — laminated stand-up and flat pouches that are filled, sealed and then heat-processed under pressure, for shelf-stable ready meals, rice, sauces, soups and wet pet food.
A pouch that goes into the cooker after it is sealed
- Film
- PET or nylon / aluminum foil or clear high-barrier / CPP retort-grade sealant
- Styles
- Stand-up with bottom gusset, flat three-side seal, spouted
- Process
- Built for sealed-pouch heat processing; microwavable clear versions available
Order online
Order retort pouches
Starting from $0.75 per unit
Printed to your artwork or plain, sold in runs of 100 up to 5,000 units per product online. Freight to the US, UK, Canada and Australia is inside the price.
How an online order runs
- Add the units you needThen check out with your delivery address. Add other products to the same order on the way.
- A digital proof comes backLaid on the dieline, before anything prints. Change it as often as you need.
- Pay once you approve itPay by PayPal invoice or bank transfer after you approve your digital proof, or cash on delivery in the US and Canada.
- We make it and ship it deliveredYour delivery date is confirmed with the proof, against the spec and your fill date. Freight and customs are handled on the way to you.
Another size, board or finish, or more than 5,000 units? Send the spec for a price instead. Freight by market and our terms cover delivery and remakes.
Get a price for Retort Pouches
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
The film stack that survives the retort
Ordinary polyethylene sealant softens far below retort temperature, which is why retort pouches use CPP on the inside. The stack is laminated with adhesives rated for the process.
| Outer layer | PET or nylon; takes the print and resists puncture |
|---|---|
| Barrier layer | Aluminum foil for full light and oxygen barrier, or a clear high-barrier coating |
| Inner layer | Cast polypropylene (CPP) that seals and stays stable at retort temperature |
Foil or clear
Foil pouches give the longest shelf life and block light completely. Clear retort pouches use a transparent barrier coating so the food is visible, and some are made to be microwaved, which a foil pouch cannot be. The trade-off is shelf life and cost; your process authority and the product decide which is right. Our guide to barrier packaging and how it works explains the layers.
Formats for meals, sauces and pet food
- Stand-up pouches with a bottom gusset for ready meals and rice that sit on a shelf.
- Flat three-side-seal pouches for single portions, curries and field rations.
- Tear notches so the pouch opens without scissors.
- Spouted retort pouches for soups and sauces poured straight from the pack.
Tell us the fill weight, the retort temperature and time your process uses, and whether the pouch is microwaved. Those decide the film.
Seals are where retort pouches fail
A retort pouch is only as good as its seals. Food on the seal area, an uneven seal bar or wrinkles in the film leave weak points that can open in the cooker. Pouches are made with a wide seal area and a clean margin above the fill line, and we supply seal width and temperature guidance for your filling machine. For pouches that do not go through a retort see our stand-up pouches for dry goods.
Print that comes out of the cooker intact
Ink is printed on the reverse of the outer film and buried inside the laminate, so it never touches the water or steam in the retort and does not scuff on the shelf. Full-color photography of the meal is the norm. The rest of our range is on our page for pouches for food and retail.
Retort Pouches — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Film
- PET or nylon / aluminum foil or clear high-barrier / CPP retort-grade sealant
- Styles
- Stand-up with bottom gusset, flat three-side seal, spouted
- Process
- Built for sealed-pouch heat processing; microwavable clear versions available
- Features
- Tear notches, wide seal areas, clean margin above fill line
- Reverse-printed full color buried in the laminate
- Minimum
- 100 pouches per design
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in up to ten colors on the outer film, or digital for short runs and changing artwork.
- Color
- A white underprint carries normal color on metalized or clear film. Without it, every color takes on what is beneath it.
- Tolerance
- Bag width plus or minus 2 mm, length plus or minus 3 mm. Film stretches, so a barcode is verified on a filled bag.
- Tooling
- Print plates or cylinders per design, kept. There is no cutting die — the bag is formed and sealed rather than cut.
- Food contact
- A food-grade sealing layer against the product, with the inks trapped between layers rather than on the food face.
- Sustainability
- Mono-material PE or PP where the shelf life allows, which recycles as a soft plastic. A foil laminate does not.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build retort pouches on
A flexible pack is a stack of films laminated together, and the middle layer is the barrier. The structure is chosen from the shelf life you need and what you want to be able to say about recycling.
PET / PE
A printable outer and a sealing inner. Moisture barrier, modest oxygen barrier. The everyday laminate for dry goods sold quickly.
2-ply, 70–110 micronPET / AL / PE
Aluminum foil in the middle: the strongest barrier against light, oxygen and moisture. Coffee, supplements, anything with a long shelf life.
3-ply, 90–130 micronMetalized PET
A vapor-deposited metal layer. Bright, lighter and cheaper than foil, with a weaker barrier. Most silver and gold bags are this.
2–3 plyMono-material PE
Every layer polyethylene, so the bag recycles as a soft plastic. Less barrier and a slightly softer hand; the sustainable choice where shelf life allows.
100–130 micronMono-material PP
Stiffer and clearer than PE, with better heat resistance. Suits a stand-up pouch that has to hold its shape on a shelf.
90–120 micronKraft-paper laminate
A paper outer over a film barrier. The natural look with a real barrier behind it; the paper takes only a matte, flat print.
Paper 60–80gsm + filmCompostable film
PLA and cellulose structures certified for industrial compost. Lower barrier, higher cost, and no home-compost claim unless the certificate says so.
60–90 micronLDPE mailer film
Co-extruded opaque film for shipping bags: tear- and puncture-resistant, weatherproof, and recyclable where soft plastics are collected.
60–80 micronNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Film is finished in the lacquer and the ink, not with a laminate.
Matte lacquer
A soft, non-reflective face. Hides handling marks and the most-used finish on a premium pouch.
Gloss lacquer
Wet-looking color. Reads cheaper on some categories and exactly right on confectionery.
Spot matte on gloss
A matte shape on a gloss field, or the reverse. The film equivalent of spot UV.
Metalized effects
Print over the metal layer so a color picks up the shimmer, or lay white under it for a normal color.
Registered emboss
A raised texture pressed into the film. Rare, expensive, and unmistakable in the hand.
Kraft-paper face
A paper outer laminated to the barrier. Matte and flat by nature; no varnish needed.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a pouch by what goes in it, not by a bag size: retort pouches
Film packs are specified by fill, not by dimensions. Two products of the same weight can need very different bags, because density decides volume — whole coffee beans take far more room than the same weight of powder.
- Fill weight and density
- Give us both, or send the product. We size from the volume it actually occupies, settled.
- Lay-flat width
- Half the circumference of the finished bag. It is the number a converter works to, and we calculate it from your product.
- Headspace
- Enough film above the fill to seal cleanly and for the bag to stand. Too little and the seal traps product; too much and the pack looks underfilled.
- Gusset
- Bottom gusset depth sets how the bag stands; side gussets add volume without width. Both are chosen from the shelf, not the fill.
- Seal width
- 5–8 mm. Wider on liquids and creams, which contaminate a seal, and on anything that will be posted.
- Sample fill
- A plain bag at the finished size, filled from your line, is the only reliable check before print.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Spec your Retort Pouches
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a film and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about retort pouches? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is a retort pouch?
A laminated pouch that is filled, sealed and then heat-processed under pressure so the food inside becomes shelf stable.
What temperature can retort pouches withstand?
They are built for typical retort processing, around 250 degrees F. Confirm your exact time and temperature with us so the film is matched to it.
Can retort pouches be microwaved?
Clear retort pouches can be made microwavable. Foil retort pouches cannot go in a microwave.
How long do foods in retort pouches last?
That depends on the food and the process approved by your process authority. Foil pouches give the longest barrier.
Are retort pouches used for pet food?
Yes. Wet pet food is one of the largest uses, usually in flat or stand-up foil pouches.
Why do retort pouches use CPP inside?
Cast polypropylene seals well and stays stable at retort temperature, where ordinary polyethylene would soften.
Can a retort pouch have a window?
A clear barrier pouch shows the food. A window in a foil pouch is not used, because it would break the barrier.
Can retort pouches stand up on a shelf?
Yes. Stand-up retort pouches have a bottom gusset so ready meals and rice can be displayed upright.
Do retort pouches have tear notches?
Yes. Tear notches let the pouch be opened by hand, which matters for meals eaten away from a kitchen.
Will the print on a retort pouch fade in processing?
No. The ink is reverse printed and buried inside the laminate, so steam and water never reach it.
Do you help set up sealing for retort pouches?
We supply seal width and temperature guidance for your filling machine. Your process authority sets the retort process itself.
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