“Good Hygiene Practice for Vacuum Packed Food”,“The Regulations of 
Labeling for Vacuum Packed Food”and “Good Hygiene Practice for 
Canned Food” 
DOH Food No.0991302095, July 09, 2010 
I. The competent authority: Department of Health (DOH), Executive Yuan 
II. Basis for the enactment: The stipulations  in Item 1, Article 20 and Clause 6, 
Item 1, Article 17, of the Act Governing Food Sanitation. 
III. Promulgation of “Good Hygiene Pr actice for Vacuum-Packed Foods” 
(1) This practice is applicab le to related food proprie tors of vacuum-packed, 
RTE (ready-to-eat) foods 
(2) In addition to complying with the related stipulations in this  practice, related 
food proprietors of vacu um-packed, RTE (ready-to-e at) foods shall also 
comply with the stipulations in the Good Hygiene Practice for Foods. 
(3) Related terms in this practice are defined as follows:    
1. Food Proprietor: The proprietor that operates the manufacturing, 
processing, preparing, packaging, transporting, storage, selling, input and 
output of foods or food additives. 
2. Vacuum-Packed Food: The food that is degassed and sealed within an hermetically sealed container. 
3. Hermetically sealed container: mean s a container that is designed and 
intended to be secure against the en try of microorganisms and thereby to 
maintain the commercial sterility of it s contents after pr ocessing, including 
containers made of metal, gl ass, retort pouch, plastic and 
laminated composite materials, as well as other containers conforming to the aforementioned condition. 
4. RTE (ready-to-eat) Food: The product th at can be instantly edible after 
being unsealed, with no need to be processed by any cooking step.  5. Salt Concentration: The percentage of the salt mass accounting for the 
whole solution mass.  
6. Water Activity: Water activity (aw) is a measure of the free moisture in a 
product and is the quotient of the water vapor pressure of the substance divided by the vapor pressure of pur e water at the same temperature. 
(4) Good Hygiene Practice for Vacuum-Pack ed and RTE (ready-to-eat) Foods 
Sold and Stored at Room Temperature:  
1. If such a product meets any of the following conditions, it can be stored 
and sold at room temperature. 
A. Water Activity ≦0.85 
B. pH value≧9.0 
C. Commercially sterilized products 
2. Products with the first two conditions of  above mentioned should be stored 
and sold in accordance with their labeling. The proprietors should reserve 
related test reports or certificati on documents proved by the laboratories 
accredited by the central competent authority, for reference. Commercially 
sterilized products shall conform to the Good Hygiene Practice for Canned Foods. 
(5) Good Hygiene Practice for Vacuum-Packed, RTE (ready-to-eat) Foods Sold and Stored in Cold Storage: 
1. As for vacuum-packed, RTE (ready-to-e at) foods with water activity above 
0.85 that require cold storage, all th e processes for storing, transporting 
and selling them should be undertaken in  the status of cold storage at 7 . ℃ 
2. Shelf life of Vacuum-Packed, RTE (rea dy-to-eat) Foods in Cold Storage: 
If such a product does not meet any of the following conditions, its shelf 
life shall be within ten days. The prop rietors should reserve related test reports or certification documents proved by the laboratories accredited by 
the central competent authority, for reference.  
A. Added with Nitrite or Nitrate 
B. Water Activity 0.94 ≦  
C. pH value 4.6 ≦  
D. Salt Concentration ＞3.5% (only applicable to  smoked and fermented 
products)   
E. Any other condition that can inhibit Clostridium botulinum . 
(6) Good Hygiene Practice for Vacuum-Packed, RTE (ready-to-eat) Foods Sold and Stored in Refrigeration: All the processes for storing, transporting and selling the vacuum-packed, RTE (ready-to -eat) foods in refrigeration should 
be undertaken in the status  of refrigeration at -18 . ℃ 
(7) Registration should be required for vacuum-packed, RTE (ready-to-eat) 
foods which are high-risk in botulism as determined by risk assessment. 
IV. Promulgation of “Related Sti pulations for the Labeling of 
 Vacuum-Packed, RTE (ready-to-e at) Foods Sold on the Market” 
(1) Labeling Content: According to the R TE food property in cold storage or 
refrigeration, the label “stored in cold storage” or “stored in refrigeration” 
should be marked. 
(2) Position of the Labeling: The label s hould be marked on the easily-seen area 
of the front side on the outer pack age of the smallest selling unit. 
(3) Typeface of the Labeled Words: The typeface of the labeled words should 
not be smaller than 1cm both in length and width. 
(4) Other Items: The typeface color of th e words “stored in cold storage” or 
“stored in refrigeration” should be ob viously different from the background 
color of the product’s oute r package, for the sake of easy identification. V. V. Preliminary Amendment of “Good Hygiene Practice for Canned Foods” 
Amendment of Item 6: 
(1) Amendment of Clause 4: The steriliza tion conditions should be enacted for 
acidified canned foods, and such steril ization conditions should be enacted 
by the institution having the enactment of aseptic conditions for such 
equipment and the expertise of ster ilization of acidified canned foods, 
whose qualification has been approve by the central competent institution. 
(2) Addition of Clause 5: As for the as eptic conditions for low-acid canned 
foods, the sterilization value (F 0) should be ≧3.