News
FDA Approves Microwave Preservation Process for Prepared Foods
Northwest Public Radio, October 29 2009.
Revolutionary technology: FDA RA Approves Microwave Preservation Process for Prepared Foods
WSU Today online, October 29 2009.
Juming Tang, a professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, led a team of university, industry and U.S. military scientists to develop the technology. The outcome results in food with a longer shelf life as well as better flavor and nutritional value compared to more traditional food-processing methods such as canning.
“New processes for producing shelf-stable, low-acid foods must pass rigorous reviews by FDA to ensure that the technology is scientifically sound and the products will be safe,” Tang said. “Our team patented system designs in October 2006 after more than 10 years of research. We spent another three years developing a semi-continuous system, collecting engineering data and microbiologically validating the process before receiving FDA acceptance.”
The team’s microwave sterilization process technology immerses the packaged food in pressurized hot water while simultaneously heating it with microwaves at a frequency of 915 MHz - a frequency that penetrates food more deeply than the 2450 MHz used in home microwave ovens. This combination eliminates food pathogens and spoilage microorganisms in five to eight minutes and produces safe foods with much higher quality than conventionally processed ready-to-eat products.
Spearheaded by C. Patrick Dunne, Department of Defense combat feeding directorate at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center at Natick, Mass., the project has been funded from a variety of sources and a consortium of industry members that include Kraft Foods, Hormel, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Rexam Containers, Ferrite Components and Graphic Packaging. The WSU team also worked closely with process authorities of the Seafood Products Association in Seattle and Hormel to establish validation procedures and in preparation of filing documents. In addition, faculty members from other WSU departments, particularly Food Science, contributed to the project.
“The team’s collective efforts have brought a new food processing technology to the forefront that will truly benefit not only the commercial sector but our war-fighters worldwide with a wider variety of high quality, shelf-stable foods,” said Gerald Darsch, director of the U.S. Department of Defense Combat Feeding team. “It is truly a tremendous accomplishment.”
Evan Turek, senior research fellow at Kraft Foods, said Tang’s new technology will make a huge difference for the food industry.
“Since the introduction of industrial microwave ovens in the late 1940s, the food industry has been interested in exploiting the rapid heating capability of microwaves to improve the quality of canned food,” he said. “The technical issue has always been ensuring uniform and reproducible heat treatment.
“Dr. Tang had a vision about how this might be overcome, and with his leadership and the engineering prowess of his research staff and students, a protocol for practicing and validating microwave sterilization was established,” Turek said. “Kraft Foods is proud to have been an early supporter of the research program at WSU and looks forward to the commercialization of the technology.”
WSU officials agreed.
“This is a great example of how research universities like Washington State University produce breakthroughs that make an immediate impact on our nation and world. This new technology promises significant advances in food safety and quality to benefit everyone,” said Howard Grimes, vice president for research.
Dan Bernardo, dean of the WSU College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, said the impact of the science will be dramatic.
“There have been very few advances leading to FDA-accepted food processing technologies in recent history,” he said. “The FDA’s approval of this new technology truly could revolutionize the way we process and preserve food, ensuring food safety, increasing its longevity and maximizing the retention of its flavor and nutrition.”
Ralph Cavalieri, director of the WSU Agricultural Research Center, said Tang’s research has global benefits.
“It is important across a range of applications,” he said, “from feeding astronauts on long-term space missions or soldiers in the field to transporting and storing food to areas of the world where people are unable to produce enough food locally to feed themselves.”
Cavalieri said the project would not have been possible without support from a variety of sectors.
“We have worked synchronously with industry, the army and the university to make this happen,” he said. “Dr. Tang’s research also has received incredible support from Washington’s Congressional delegation, especially Sen. Patty Murray.”
Murray said ensuring funding for projects such as Tang’s is part of an overall effort to support Washington’s agricultural and food industry in ways that benefit the nation and world.
“This is great news for WSU, our growers and American food processors,” she said. “It will help our growers and processors stay more competitive in the global marketplace and increase food safety for consumers.”
Less energy usage is claimed for novel pasteurisation process
Food Production daily.com Mar 20 2009.
A new way of sterilizing packaged foods that offers rapid results and less energy consumption has been the focus of a recent project undertaken by the German research group, the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging.
NCFST Receives Regulatory Acceptance of Novel Food Sterilization Process
Chicago, Feb. 26, 2009
The National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST), Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and Avure Technologies, Inc., announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the research institute’s filing of a new food sterilization process. The NCFST filing is the first ever petition to FDA for the commercial use of pressure-assisted thermal sterilization (PATS) processes for application in the production of low acid foods.
Beijing to use mobile microwave heating tunnels as a food safety measure for 2008 Olympic Games
China Gate. July 20 2007.
Changing demands driving evolution of food factories
Foodproductiondaily.com:Europe. April 19 2007.
The food factory of the future will be smaller than the massive production plants of today, with more automation and the flexibility to switch to new products at the push of a button.
This was the vision held up yesterday by Thomas Ohlsson at a conference in Brussels examining the future research needs of the food industry.
Microwave Systems: Revolutionary Lightwaves Boost Quality
Food Engineering: The Magazine for Operations and Manufacturing Management. March 1, 2007.
Signal variability has blocked widespread use of microwavetechnology in food processing. That is about to change.
Electromagnetic radiation still is a new and exotic option in food and beverage processing, though it gradually is finding niches in various applications as research engineers overcome the practical barriers to commercial use.
Salmon May Be Getting a New Wrap
http://www.seattlepi.com. April 24, 2004
With a few phone calls and e-mails, Ketchikan fisherman Johnny Rice may have helped Alaska's wild salmon out of the metal can and into a new niche market.
Researchers in Washington state say they are close to perfecting a new method of microwaving food that not only gives salmon a grocery-store shelf life but delivers a fillet of restaurant-quality straight from a pouch -- no refrigeration necessary.
Active & Intellegent Pack News
http://www.piranet.com. April 14, 2004
Food brand owner Heinz has dropped a unique retortable packaging featuring susceptor film technology developed by Alert Packaging.
Until two months ago Heinz had sole rights to use Alert's Micro-Crisp film, a specialty substrate for retortable packaging applications. But Heinz recently made the decision to de-list the product range that used the film, opening up a raft of opportunities for other brand owners.
Sen. Murkowski Announces New Salmon Processing Breakthrough
http://www.AlaskaReport.com. March 19, 2004.
Senator Lisa Murkowski announced a breakthrough in the processing of packaged salmon that may increase demand for salmon and help improve prices for Alaska's wild salmon stocks.
Microwaves Improve Processed Food Quality
http://www.natick.army.mil. March 4, 2004.
Microwave energy, long used in homes to cook or reheat food, is gaining momentum in the United States as a method for processing more palatable shelf-stable foods for the military and commercial market.
Already successfully used overseas as an alternative to frozen or refrigerated packaged foods, a partnership between the Department of Defense Combat Feeding Directorate at the Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass.; Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman, Wash.; and several food processing, equipment and packaging companies to process food through a microwave sterilization system is moving ahead with a fresh influx of federal and private sector funding.