High Pressure Processing Application Centres
Your partner through every step of your HPP journey
Overview
The Quintus HPP Application Center is a dedicated facility where food and beverage producers can test and optimize their products using High Pressure Processing (HPP) technology. It offers expertise in product suitability, packaging applicability, and formula enhancements, along with go-to-market strategies and validation studies for regulatory compliance. Customers can conduct shelf-life and microbial challenge studies, participate in educational workshops, and receive expert guidance to ensure successful HPP implementation with Quintus’ advanced solutions.
Services Offered
We offer comprehensive support to ensure your HPP product is fully market ready.
- Microbiology validation and shelf-life studies, as well as optimal HPP parameters.
- Advice on ingredient selection and product reformulations.
- Packaging evaluation services help you select the right materials for your products.
- Regulatory compliance support, helping you navigate FDA guidelines and HACCP requirements with ease.
Consultation
Consultation on materials, process capabilities, and process parameters
Testing
Thorough testing of the desired process to confirm functionality
Report
A report describing the results and the logged process data
We support by collaborating with an external partner to evaluate chemical composition, microstructure, porosity, mechanical properties, and fatigue properties of the tested samples, scope, and price to be defined based on current needs.
Facilities & Equipment
Our Application Center is also equipped with a test kitchen, microbiology laboratory, and packaging equipment.
Equipment
An industrialized High Pressure Processing (HPP) system - QIF 150-liters with max. pressure 600 MPa (87,000psi).
Our WIP systems apply extremely high pressure (up to 6,000 bar/87,022 psi) in conjunction with elevated temperatures (up to 145°C/293°F) to densify the solid-state cells, removing porosity and voids and ensuring interfacial contact between components.
Expert Support & Collaboration
You are supported by Quintus experts, including in-house food scientists with extensive experience with HPP products.
- Access to world-recognized HPP scientists and product developers
- Comprehensive in-house support for your complete HPP plans
- Validation studies that comply with regulatory requirements
- Studies conducted on a commercial-sized Quintus HPP system
- Capability of producing sample sizes for market trials/client tests
- Ideal hands-on centers for new or modified product rollouts
- Accessible to all companies wishing to advance the commercial
Ready-to-eat (RTE) meat
To perform the shelf-life analysis, individual samples in pre-packed BBQ beef product, ready-to-eat beef flavored with barbecue seasoning, were HPP treated and non-HPP (control) samples were packed in pouches. The uninoculated HPP-treated samples were processed at 5,930 bar (86,000 psi) for 180 seconds. All samples were stored at 4°C (40°F) for 126 days.
For the pathogen challenge study, ready-to-eat BBQ beef was inoculated with >5-logs of strains of E. coli O157:H7 (EHEC), Salmonella, and L. monocytogenes. One group of samples received HPP treatment at 5,930 bar (86,000 psi) for 180 seconds, while the control group remained untreated. All HPP validation studies are done at 70 bars (1,000 psi) below operating pressures to compensate for downward drifts in pressure during cycle time. This validated pressure is used as a CCP in the manufacturer’s HACCP program. All samples were then stored for 118 days at 4°C (40°F).
The results of published studies and work done at Quintus Technologies HPP application center in Columbus, Ohio, clearly demonstrate that HPP is an effective non-thermal method for eliminating foodborne pathogens in RTE meats while significantly extending product shelf life. Importantly, HPP does not affect the sensory or nutritional properties of the products.
Fresh juices and health shots
The team at Quintus Technologies HPP Application Center in Columbus, Ohio, US, has evaluated the efficacy of high-pressure processing (HPP) treatment on juice/health shots in a microbial challenge study. Researchers monitored bacteria levels in HPP-treated juice over a period of 120 days and compared them to those in untreated juice.
The experiment clearly demonstrated that the HPP treatment achieved a greater than 5-log reduction of the inoculated pathogens in the tested juice, complying with the FDA’s 5-Log pathogen reduction rule as defined in the Juice HACCP Regulation (21CFR 120).