Newswise — CHICAGO – At a special presentation on Sunday morning at IFT16: Where Science Feeds Innovation, IFT Immediate Past President Mary Ellen Camire announced and presented three companies—Bavaria Corporation, CSIRO, and Weber Scientific—with the 2016 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award. The winning entries offer solutions to today’s food issues and trends of clean label, sustainability, and food safety.
“Now in its 10th year, the Food Expo Innovation Awards program is a showcase for amazing advancements in our profession,” said Camire. “Exclusive to companies exhibiting at the IFT16 Food Expo, these awards honor outstanding innovation in products, ingredients, technologies, instrumentation, equipment, and services that were commercially introduced since January of 2015.”
A panel of eight jurors from industry, academia, and government with broad expertise in research & product development, processing & packaging technology, and food safety selected the three companies and their innovations from 46 qualified entries. Judging criteria included degree of innovation, technical advancement, benefits to food manufacturers and consumers, and scientific merit.
Bavaria Corporation (booth 4226) captured the 2016 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award for its Bafos Veg natural ingredient system, which eliminates chemical nitrates in naturally cured meat products. The clean label product works by utilizing the natural occurring nitrates in chard, spinach, and acerola. It aids in retaining red and pink color in cured meats. Acerola is a natural antioxidant that helps to improve shelf life and color retention. The product is both USDA and FDA accepted and does not contribute flavor.
CSIRO (booth 4779) won the award for its for its Megasonics Technology For Enhanced Oil Recovery. Sound waves in the megasonic range can recover oil lost in fibrous plant material, which led to a multi-stakeholder collaboration to establish the world’s first commercial megasonic application in the food industry. The patented megasonic reactors being industrialized in the palm oil industry utilize high frequency sound pressure waves to coalesce emulsified oil droplets and separate them from palm fruit particles. Megasonics can recover 1 to 2 liters of oil per kilogram of fresh fruit.
Weber Scientific (booth 3848) was honored for its PCR Foodproof Yeast and Mold Quantification LyoKit, which provides total count of yeasts and molds in dairy products in 3 to 4 hours compared to a minimum of five days with current plate count methods. Results are displayed in CFU per gram and only viable organisms are detected. 100% specificity has been demonstrated with 290 strains representing 260 species with all important phylogenetic groups included. 100% exclusivity was also demonstrated with 60 strains of non-target microorganisms typically found in similar ecological niches.
About IFT For more than 70 years, IFT has existed to advance the science of food. Our nonprofit scientific society—more than 18,000 members from more than 100 countries—brings together food scientists, technologists and related professions from academia, government, and industry. For more information, please visit ift.org.
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