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NCFST Forms HPP Group; Invites Food Packagers to Join

FoodProcessing.com
12/21/2009

By FoodProcessing.com staff

The National Center for Food Safety and Technology and Illinois Institute of Technology have formed a new HPP working group to drive forward scientific advances and commercial applications for the food and beverage industry.

NCFST is inviting food packaging and product companies interested in capitalizing on this business development enterprise to join as members.

The formation of the NCFST High Pressure Research Consortium follows a seven-year, industry-supported collaborative Dual Use Science and Technology  consortium that resulted in development of a novel food sterilization technology, pressure assisted thermal sterilization. The promising advanced HPP-based technology utilizes high pressure to produce temperatures that ensure the production of commercially sterile low-acid food products while significantly improving food quality attributes. PATS was accepted in February 2009 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a new alternative to commercially sterilize low-acid canned food products.

The HPRC will build on the step-change science and commercial viability of the award-winning PATS technology, which was recognized in June 2009 by the Institute of Food
Technologists (IFT) with a prestigious IFT Food Expo Innovation Award acknowledging the major technical advancement represented by the novel method.

Armand Paradis, NCFST Director, Business Development, adds that the new consortium offers members a way to establish viability of pressure enhanced sterilization at a
substantially lower individual cost and at a faster pace than companies proceeding independently.

The HPRC has already enrolled several industry members, including Basic American Foods, Campbell Soup, Michael Foods, PepsiCo, Avure Technologies, and the U.S.
Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center.

NCFST is actively seeking new members in the food packaging and manufacturing sectors. NCFST is looking to include companies that understand the potential of the technology, share a common desire to aggressively pursue advancing HPP technology, and have the desire to mitigate the risk and collaborate on technical issues.

Interested companies can contact Armand Paradis, Director, Business Development, at 708.563.8175, or via email him at aparadis2@iit.edu, for details on membership, benefits and activities of the NCFST HPRC.