CIFT TECHINCAL ASSISTANCE PROJECTS JTM Food Group and The Ohio State University worked in effort to reduce the organic load in the wastewater discharged from JTM’s facility. The work focused in two main areas. The “upstream” evaluation implemented membrane filtration in an effort to reclaim water from the beef cooking operation which was identified as a main source of wastewater generation. The “downstream” work used membrane filtration to reduce the organic load of the water discharged to the municipal waste recovery facility. Results from both areas of evaluation have proven feasible in reducing the volume discharged from JTM’s facility as well as reduce the total load in the discharge stream. A Sandridge Food Corporation and Tetra Tech project evaluated wastewater pretreatment techniques in food processing establishments. Testing included onsite, bench-top dissolved air floatation and wastewater samples. Based on the treatability testing results, the wastewater can be treated using a physical/chemical treatment. A coagulation/flocculation system followed by dissolved air flotation for solids removal is proposed to treat the wastewater at Sandridge. Installation of a new treatment system would result in lower surcharges and safeguard the facility against permit exceedance, both capital and operating costs for the proposed system are high. Avure Technologies and The Ohio State University have developed a project to evaluate the effect of water activity on high pressure processing of food products. The purpose of this project is to systematically investigate the microbial death kinetics of selected model bacteria suspended in a meat puree. Results of this study will help introduce high pressure pasteurization for intermediate moisture content category of food products. 10
A project was initiated with Brewster Cheese Co. and The Ohio State University to determine the microbiological populations (microbiota) of milk, starter cultures and downgraded Swiss cheese samples obtained from Brewster Dairy to better understand the potential causes of cheese defects to develop targeted controls. The project also aims to isolate or validate the presence of targeted microbes with potential to be the causative agents by conventional methods. Increasing knowledge regarding Swiss cheese microbes can reduce the economic loss that is seen due to defects such as brown spots, blow holes, and splits-and-cracks. This project was initiated because the contributors of microbes to cheese quality remain unknown due to limitation in detection technology. Dedicated to providing food service equipment for more than 50 years, Henny Penny and Leader Engineering-Fabrication are working to improve food service with the development of a next generation fryer. The objective of this project is to design a frying chamber which would be compatible with a fully automated fryer for use in restaurants or food service establishments to fry primarily French fries and hash browns. Successful design and implementation of the automated batch fryer could boost the output of a restaurant kitchen in an existing store footprint. T ECHN O L O G Y P R O GR A M | 11
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