At a special presentation on Sunday morning at IFT15: Where Science Feeds Innovation, IFT President-Elect Colin Dennis announced and presented four companies with the 2015 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award. The winners are Aseptia Technologies, Corbion, Ecolab, and Parabel.

“Now in its 9th year, the Food Expo Innovation awards program is a showcase for amazing advancements in our profession,” said Dennis. “Exclusive to companies exhibiting at the IFT15 Food Expo, these awards honor outstanding innovation in products, ingredients, technologies, instrumentation, equipment, and services that were commercially introduced since January 1st of 2014.”

A panel of nine jurors from industry, academia, and government with broad expertise in research & product development, processing & packaging technology, and food safety selected the four companies and their innovations from 47 qualified entries. Judging criteria included degree of innovation, technical advancement, benefits to food manufacturers and consumers, and scientific merit.

Aseptia Technologies (booth 232) captured the 2015 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award for its AseptiWave Modular Advanced Thermal Processing Systems, which utilize microwave-assisted advanced thermal processing to deliver superior product quality for aseptically packaged foods and beverages. AseptiWave is a family of advanced thermal processing systems with a built-in, extensively and robustly tested scale-up strategy and controllability at pilot plant (2–4 gal/min), intermediate (10–20 gal/min), and high (20–40 gal/min) industrial throughput levels.

Corbion (booths 1218/1221) won the award for its Ultra Fresh Premium Advantage Enzyme Blend, which extends the shelf life, freshness, taste and flavor of bread while enabling the reduction of some ingredients, such as added sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and yeast. The bio-based enzyme’s ability to extend shelf life seven or more days may enable bakeries to expand distribution to new geographies or potentially expand to new outlets such as convenience, drug and dollar stores. In the consumer’s pantry, the extra shelf life may translate to reduced waste.

Ecolab (booth 1950) was honored for its DrySan Duo Two-Step, No-Rinse Cleaner & Sanitizer, which is designed for dry and low-moisture processing environments. The product reduces cleaning time by eliminating the use of rinse water between cleaning and sanitizing. Plant trials using DrySan Duo showed an average 30% reduction in total cleaning time compared to traditional wet cleaning methods. The trials also demonstrated equivalent performance to traditional wet cleaning utilizing aerobic plate count and Enterobacteriacea test methods.

Parabel (booth 126) received the 2015 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award for its LENTEIN Plant Protein, which is derived from water lentils. The highly digestible protein has an amino acid profile comparable to whey protein and is claimed to be higher in essential amino acids and branched chain amino acids than any other plant protein. The product contains 65–70% concentrated high-quality plant protein and omega-3 fatty acids, is high in carotenoids, and rich in antioxidants. It is highly dispersible and has excellent foaming attributes. Applications include beverages, chips, crackers, and bars.