LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development has voted to award a $150,000 grant to Great Lakes HPP to develop a high-pressure food processing (HPP) center and food innovation center at its Taylor location.

 

Great Lakes’ co-founder is Jack Aronson, founder of Garden Fresh Gourmet of Ferndale, Mich., which makes salsa. Garden Fresh Gourmet uses HPP, a cold-pasteurization process, to make its salsa.

 

“Garden Fresh was an early adopter of this amazing technology,” Aronson said. “As a pioneer in all-natural fresh salsa, we were told time and again that our brand would not be viable outside of Michigan due to limited shelf life. HPP made it possible for us to become the No. 1 salsa maker in North America and beyond, eventually employing 450 people at our Ferndale plant.

“As Michigan becomes an increasingly important player in food production, easy access to HPP technology and related services is imperative. We at Great Lakes HPP are thankful to MDARD (state department of agriculture) for helping to make such access possible.”

According to information from another high-pressure processor, Avure Technologies based in Middletown, Ohio, HPP allows foods to be pasteurized without a loss of vitamins and minerals and without a loss in flavor, while at the same time adding shelf life to the product.

According to Avure’s Emily Nelson in a video news release, HPP pasteurizes foods by an all-natural process using high pressure rather than heat, thus preserving the taste, nutrients and textures in foods. HPP works by exerting 87,000 pounds per square inch on the product, killing any harmful bacteria that might be present.

“HPP protects the good stuff and destroys the bad,” Nelson explained.

 

The process uses purified cold water to neutralize food-borne pathogens without preservatives or chemicals.

Great Lakes HPP will use its $150,000 performance based grant to create an HPP tolling center, so called because it will charge other companies a “toll” or fee to use the center.

The center will include an HPP machine and a “Super Lab” that can be used for testing products and for other services, such as packaging, labeling and distribution.

This project will also include a food innovation center that will be available to Michigan food entrepreneurs who need space and resources for product testing, recipe development, flavor profiling and other food and ag business development training, such as selling to retail and product pricing.

“We are excited about the potential of this project for Michigan food companies and are happy to be partnering with Great Lakes HPP on this project,” said MDARD Director Jamie Clover Adams.

She added this technology will help small- and medium-sized food processors in Michigan, and that future growth could lead to a total of four HPP machines with the ability to process up to 280 million pounds of food per year.

The company plans to invest $5.5 million in this project and said it will create 20-30 new jobs in the first phase.

It hopes to eventually add 75-100 new jobs because of the tolling center. There are 21 tolling centers worldwide now, with 12 in the United States but none in Michigan.

This grant is part of MDARD’s Value Added and Regional Food Systems Grants program.