Canned Pulses: export from Canada to ASEAN

Canned pulses convert Canada's strongest agricultural category into a shelf-stable consumer product, and they travel well: no cold chain, long shelf life, familiar formats.

The specification points are the pulse variety, fill and drained weight, the packing medium, salt level and firmness after retort. Firmness is the attribute consumers judge and it depends on both the raw material (crop year and hydration behaviour) and the retort schedule. A can of mushy beans is a raw-material problem as often as a process one.

BPA-free lining and can format are worth confirming against destination expectations, which differ by market and increasingly by retailer.

Process validation applies as it does to all canned goods. Reduced-salt and no-added-salt variants are worth asking about for markets under sodium-reduction pressure, since they exist and change the label position.

Prepared or preserved pulses classify well away from the dry commodity, and the duty position frequently differs substantially. That gap is the main reason to confirm before deciding whether to export dry or canned product.