An NC State startup company, which produces preservative-free packaged foods using slow microwave technology, is now the 15th-fastest-growing company in the nation and the second-fastest-growing company in the food and beverage industry.
Aseptia, developed by NC State food scientists Pablo Coronel, Josip Simunovic and Ken Swartzel, has grown 12,427 percent in the past three years and increased its revenue from about $100,000 in 2010 to $13.8 million last year.
The company started in 2006 and has been progressing ever since. It received funding by the end of 2010 and launched formally in July 2012. In order to produce foods with the technology, the owners formed Wright Foods, a subsidiary company. Along with that manufacturer, Aseptia has been given offers from other companies for this preserving method, including one from Dole.
Coronel said the project originated as part of his PhD research in 1990. Based in Troy, North Carolina, the company has hired many NC State graduates since it first began in 2006.
“We started processing food using an industrial scale microwave,” Coronel said. “We realized that by using certain techniques and heating the product very quickly there were many advantages in quality. We loved the idea and the product that came out.”
K.P. Sandeep, a professor of food, bioprocessing and nutrition sciences, said putting food into an aluminum can and then sealing and heating it was the previous method of preserving food.
Each part of the canned food must be exposed to a minimum temperature. The outside portions of the can get heated first, and the heat inches towards the center, eventually heating all the food. However, while the heat is being applied, the outside portions get overcooked, often taking away from the food’s nutrition, taste and quality.
The continuous slow microwave technology that Aseptia provides offers a solution to this problem by using a pump and pipe mechanism. In this process, the food is pumped into a can through a pipe, and while flowing, the food is exposed to microwaves. This heats up each portion of the food uniformly and maintains most of the key elements of any food, the nutrition, taste and appearance.
“The main goal of this technology was to handle solid- liquid mixtures,” Sandeep said. “Right now, Wright Foods uses it for fruit-based products, fruit pieces in fruit juice, so for those systems, it works well.”
However, Sandeep said the technology does not work well for some products, such as peanut-based substances.
“The properties of those products are not conducive to microwave heating,” Sandeep said. “I am not sure if that will become of emphasis in the future or not, but it is an idea.”
With this method, it is not necessary to only use more expensive aluminum cans. Food products can be stored in plastic, paper or containers of other materials. Also, this method is able to heat thicker foods, such as cheese sauce and purees, more efficiently compared to the conventional processes.
This beneficial new heating technology is more expensive than the conventional heating methods, so the next steps in the process include further research on how to lower costs.
“We continue to develop the technology,” Coronel said. “It is not static. I would love to see our technology be applied to many other food companies.”
