Food Innovation Center in Auckland Installs HPP Technology from Multivac

The aim of the Food Innovation Center in Auckland is to support small and medium-sized food and drinks companies in the development of market-ready products.

7/1/2011 --- The Food Innovation Center in Auckland is installing the first High Pressure Pasteurisation equipment from Multivac with patented process technology. Representatives of the New Zealand delegation at interpack 2011 in Düsseldorf were highly impressed with the innovative process, in which MAP packs for the first time ever can also be treated.

The aim of the Food Innovation Center in Auckland is to support small and medium-sized food and drinks companies in the development of market-ready products. To this end the Innovation Center is currently equipping seven production halls, in which all types of processing technologies for all sectors of the food industry can be tested. The autoclave from Multivac for the high pressure processing of packaged foods has a volume of 55 l and will be the key part of Hall 4 - High Pressure Pasteurisation (HPP).

Since HPP technology and the concept of the packaging go hand in hand, Multivac is also supplying the Food Innovation Center in Auckland with a range of complementary packaging machines. "In this way", says Dr Tobias Richter, who is responsible at Multivac for the HPP sector, "packs which are to be processed with HPP can be optimised for this treatment process".

Bringing ideas to market readiness
The FIC (Food Innovation Center) is promoted by the New Zealand Ministry for Economic Development. Its official opening will take place in September 2011. The FIC portrays its objectives as follows: "Many small and medium-sized businesses in New Zealand have good ideas and vision; however they lack the financial resources to be able to operate their own pilot plants or to commit their own personnel to development work. For this reason New Zealand has long had a deficit in its development process for new products". This gap between product research & development and the actual marketing of products at the local, national and international level will now be closed.

HPP technology at interpack 2011
High pressure processing is in the ascendant worldwide. It enables the shelf life and safety of foods to be optimised without it being necessary to introduce heat or preservatives. The original nutritional value and taste are almost entirely retained.

Jointly with Uhde High Pressure Technologies, Multivac has further developed the HPP process significantly: for the first time the processing of MAP packs has become possible without loss of quality thanks to a controlled increase and decrease of pressure in the autoclave combined with tailored MAP packaging concepts. Multivac also offers the possibility of integrating high pressure processing into an automatic packaging line. Until now, the HPP process has mostly been performed offline, separately from the packaging procedure.