A-A-20203 Chicken, Noodles, And Vegetables, In Sauce, Kosher And Halal, ThermostabilizedThis Commercial Item Description (CID) covers thermostabilized, kosher certified and halal approved, chicken, noodles, and vegetables in sauce, packed in flexible pouches, suitable for use by the Federal Government and as a component of the Meal, Ready-to-Eat, Individual.

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A-A-20203

2.3 Finished product. The finished product shall be a uniform mixture of chicken noodles, and vegetables in a pleasing, poultry flavored sauce. The product shall show no evidence of excessive heating (materially darkened or scorched).

2.3.1 Appearance. The sauce shall have a pale gold or light tan color and may contain visible flecks of herbs and spices. The chicken dices, egg noodles, and vegetables shall be intact pieces with a characteristic color. There shall be no foreign color to the product.

2.3.2 Odor and flavor. The chicken dices shall have a mild poultry flavor and odor with no evidence of rancidity. The sauce shall have a pleasing flavor poultry and mild spices. The egg noodles and vegetables shall have a characteristics odor and flavor with no evidence of oxidation. There shall be no foreign odors or flavors such as, but not limited to, burnt, scorched, moldy, rancid, sour, or stale.

2.3.3 Texture. The chicken dices shall be moist and tender, not dry, rubbery, or mushy. The texture of the sauce shall be moderately thick and not excessively thin, thick, or pasty. The texture of the egg noodles shall be soft, not mushy, hard, or pasty. The vegetables shall be firm, not hard, fibrous, mushy, or tough.

2.3.4 Foreign material. There shall be no bone, feathers, or feather parts. Total weight of skin, cartilage, coarse connective tissue, sections of tendons or ligaments, and discolored meat, collectively in a pouch, shall not be more than 0.20 ounce (5.7 g). There shall be no rodents and no foreign material such as, but not limited to, dirt, insect parts, hair, wood, or metal.

2.3.5 Net and drained weight. The net weight of an individual pouch shall be not less than 7.5 ounces (212.6 g). No individual pouch shall contain less than 2.0 ounces (56.7 g) drained weight of chicken dices, 1.5 ounces (42.5 g) drained weight of vegetables and not less than 2.0 ounces (56.7 g) drained weight of egg noodles.

2.3.6 Eat and salt content. The salt content of an individual pouch shall be not less than 0.5 percent or greater than 1.5 percent. The fat content of an individual pouch shall be not more than 5.0 percent.

3.4 Pouch filling and sealing. Each pouch shall be filled with 8 ounces (226.8 g) of product so as to conform to the finished product and analytical requirements.

2.5 Thermoprocessing. The filled and sealed pouch shall be in the retort process within 2 hours after sealing and shall be thermoprocessed by retorting until a sterilization value (F_O­) of not less than  6 has been achieved.