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Food Science Australia to collaborate with Flow International Corporation to beat food poisoning microbes and create foods which stay fresh longer
Sydney, Australia
March 23, 2000

A revolutionary way to beat food poisoning microbes and create foods which stay fresh longer is the goal of a new international scientific partnership between Food Science Australia* and U.S. food technology firm Flow International Corporation.

The project is exploring the use of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) as an alternative to heat-treatment
(pasteurization) or chemical preservatives, to create foods that retain all their desirable fresh
characteristics but have the shelf life of a processed food.

"There is growing demand worldwide for convenience foods which retain the flavour, color healthiness of fresh foods, but which last longer,'' explains Food Science Australia project leader Dr. Martin Cole.

"Traditional methods of food preservation such as pasteurization and use of chemical preservatives tend to alter these features, which are so highly prized by consumers. The scientific challenge is to find ways to improve the safety of foods, but without losing the fresh characteristics.''

The answer may lie in novel high-pressure technology that has been the subject of much research
recently in the U.S. and Europe. Foods are placed in a water medium and subjected to pressures of 100 to 800 megaPascals. For an idea of what these pressures involve, if a 60Kg person were to put their entire weight on 1 cm sq., they would exert a pressure of less than 5 megaPascals.

The intense pressure kills the food poisoning microbes as well as bacteria that cause the spoilage of food. "The pressure actually causes damage to the outer cell membranes of the bacteria, which eventually kills them,'' Dr. Cole explains. "The beauty of this technique is that because food contains water, which is relatively incompressible, it causes minimal damage to actual food itself-only the bugs. ''The result is a food which retains most of the features of fresh produce, but keeps longer and is safe to eat."

Different food microbes and enzymes require different intensities of pressure to destroy them. Much of the research will focus on finding the precise treatments necessary to make various foods safe and wholesome with an enhanced shelf life.

To begin with, the work will focus on using pressure as a way to treat acidic foods like jams, fruit
juices and sauces, as well as refrigerated products such as meats and seafood, because these are easily preserved using pressure techniques.

Later, Dr Cole says the team also plans to explore the use of pressure to replace sterilization or canning of foods such as fruits and vegetables.

There are several challenges to overcome. Some enzymes that cause foods to spoil are very resistant to pressure, and the presence of oxygen residues in the food can also lead to spoilage.

As a result it may be necessary to combine pressure with other techniques, such as cool storage and hygienic packaging to attain the best results.

"But we believe the potential for greatly improved eating quality in long- shelf-life foods far outweighs the disadvantage of a combined process,'' Dr. Cole says.

Food Science Australia will conduct the research using a UHP unit manufactured by Flow
International, which will be the first of its kind in Australia. The UHP unit will allow Food Science
Australia to work with companies in Australia to evaluate, first hand, the potential of this new
technology to their businesses.

Flow International Corporation has 41 ultrahigh-pressure units in operation or on order. Currently,
they are being used by food companies in the United States, Japan and Europe to produce seafood, meat, fruit and juice products. 

* Food Science Australia is Australia's largest food research organization, and is a joint venture between CSIRO and the Australian Food Industry Science Centre (AFISC).

Company news release
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