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An eight-foot-tall, $120,000 pressure cooker built by a local manufacturing company is one of the latest contributions to the expanding Food Processing Research Laboratory located at California State University, Fresno.
- Fall - 1999 "Update" Special Report -
Food processing laboratory gets boost from industry donations of cash, equipment
From CATI Publication
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved.
The pressure cooker, known as a retort in industry terms, was donated to the university by FMC Corporation of Madera, California. FMC manufactures and services food processing equipment. The retort will allow researchers and students to process high-acid foods like salsa, jams and jellies, and low-acid foods such as peas, corn, beans and meats.
The food processing research lab, which conducts research activities under the Center for Food Science and Nutrition Research (CFSNR), has undergone a virtual metamorphosis over the last three years under the leadership of faculty from the Department of Food Science and Nutrition. Initiating the refurbishing of the lab in 1996 was Professor Marie Dunford, who served as the first director of the CFSNR and now is chair of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition.
Continuing the upgrading has been assistant professor Dennis Ferris of the same department. Ferris has overseen installation of several major pieces of equipment either donated, loaned, or purchased with donated funds. They include a $30,000 Fulton high-pressure boiler, a capper/filler unit loaned by the Lyons-Magnus company of Fresno, a blancher/cooler purchased with an anonymous $50,000 gift, and most recently the retort.
During the last three years several research projects sponsored by the California Agricultural Technology Institute (CATI) have enabled faculty and student research teams to develop and test new food products, such as a tomato-based salsa with specially dried cilantro. Another CATI-sponsored project has provided students advanced opportunities in developing computer-based process control systems (see related article).
Not only does the new equipment mean more new foods being processed at the university, but it allows students to gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art equipment, Ferris explained.
"We need the equipment to employ the techniques used by the industry," he said. The private gifts, such as the retort, will accelerate current technology into the program, he said.
The food processing industry is a big and growing business in California, Ferris noted. Fresno State graduates are recruited for positions like food plant managers, quality assurance directors, food chemists, food microbiologists and product development directors. There is such demand for quality personnel that in some cases food processing companies have convinced Fresno State students to accept positions before they have obtained their desired degree, he said.
In addition to student and research opportunities, the CFSNR is planning this fall to offer "ServSafe" certification to food service employees through a short course at the university. The eight-hour course will teach restaurant employees and managers principles of safe food handling as outlined by the National Restaurant Association.
Products being developed and tested for consumer preference can be sampled or purchased at the University Farm Market. For more information on work being done in the Food Processing Research Laboratory or the ServSafe program, contact Dennis Ferris through the Department of Enology, Food Science and Nutrition at (559) 278-4692.
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Copyright © 2000. All rights reserved.
CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE - CATI
College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
California State University, Fresno
