Pasteurising technology

Technology developed by Food Science Australia (FSA) to improve the way that fruit juices and other food products are pasteurised is being used commercially in a new Melbourne food-processing facility.

The director of FSA’s Innovative Foods Centre (IFC), Dr Kees Versteeg, said that the technology further developed by the IFC - called high-pressure processing (HPP) - uses pressures of about 6,000 times the average air pressure at sea level to pasteurise food products.

'The unique benefits of HPP are that it kills microbes such as yeasts, moulds and bacteria and extends the shelf life of chilled perishable products, without adversely affecting the food’s freshness, flavour, colour, texture and nutritional value,' said Versteeg.

Normally processors would have to use preservatives or heat the product and this inevitably changes the taste and destroys some nutrients.

'Several years ago we developed prototype juice and other fruit products using HPP and assessed them for quality and shelf life. We took these out to the industry to see who’d be interested in using the process. Donny Boy Fresh Food Company embraced HPP and we worked with them to develop and commercialise their juice and fruit products,' added Versteeg.
 
Andrew Gibb, Donny Boy's managing director, said that FSA’s involvement was essential to his company’s start-up.