ANAHEIM, Calif.—Ecolab, Inc., EnWave Corp., National Center for Food Safety & Technology and National Starch Food Innovation were recipients of 2009 IFT Food Expo Innovation Awards which were announced at the 2009 Annual Meeting & Food Expo® of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).
Ecolab, Inc. won for its peroxyacetic acid-based commercial sterilant, which sterilizes plastic bottles at lower temperatures than hydrogen peroxide, thereby reducing energy. It also mitigates bottle shrinkage and peroxide residuals.
EnWave Corporation won for its nutraREV dehydration technology. The radiant energy vacuum technology delivers rapid, low-temperature dehydration of fruits, vegetables, snack foods, and herbs. It uses less than one-third the energy of freeze drying with one-sixth the capital cost.
National Center for Food Safety & Technology was honored for its pressure-assisted thermal sterilization—an FDA-accepted processing technology that combines mild heat with high pressure to produce commercially sterile low-acid food products with equivalent or better quality than frozen foods.
National Starch Food Innovation won for its NOVATION starches, which can be used to manufacture products such as salad dressings with texture attributes and process tolerance that were only possible with modified food starches. The starches are labeled as corn starch on the ingredient statement.