Nowadays, traditional fermented foods have been developed as one of the healthy food choices. Mandai is one of the Indonesian traditional fermented foods that are underexplored. This research aims to study the canning process of the ready‐to‐eat (RTE) mandai using thermal pasteurization to improve the quality and safety of mandai. The results showed that the canning of RTE mandai in the retort pouch can be performed using thermal pasteurization at 85°C for 10 min. The canning process with precanning cooking time treatment for 15 min produced the highest sensory acceptability. This technique significantly decreased the hardness (5.064–1.898 g), chewiness (2.370–1.069 g), total anaerobic microbial (2.79–1.77 log CFU/g), and it was sufficient to achieve >6 log reduction of Lactobacillus spp. These results showed the great potential of the canning technique using thermal pasteurization to improve the quality and safety of RTE mandai.
Novelty impact statement
This is the first study to explore the canning process of mandai, traditional fermented food from Indonesia. The findings of the investigation provided an opportunity for commercial manufacturing of ready‐to‐eat mandai in retort pouches by employing thermal pasteurization at 85°C for 10 min.