FoodPIC

If you’ve ever wished that the orange juice you buy from the grocery store tasted like you squeezed it yourself — and stayed fresh at home — you may be interested in an electrifying project at the Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center (FoodPIC) on the University of Georgia Griffin campus.

Food technology company Food Physics is working with FoodPIC scientists to perfect a technique known as pulsed electric field technology (PEF). An alternative to thermal pasteurization for processing food products, PEF uses short bursts of high voltage —15,000 volts per centimeter (V/cm) — to inactivate any harmful bacteria that may be found in the product.

“The idea is to have a product taste as close as possible to fresh-squeezed, but be safe and have a commercially feasible shelf life,” said Jim Gratzek, director of FoodPIC.

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Food technology entrepreneur James Gratzek will serve as the next director of the Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center (FoodPIC) on the University of Georgia Griffin campus, according to the Department of Food Science and Technology at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES). Gratzek will begin his new role July 1.

Gratzek comes to FoodPIC from Food Physics USA, a food technology start-up focused on sales and applications for pulsed electric field technology — a way to preserve food using short pulses of electricity — where he served as technical and business development director.

Gratzek also founded Gratzek Food Technology, a Minneapolis-based food technology consulting company.

According to Manpreet Singh, food science and technology department head, Gratzek has been a leader in the food industry for more than 25 years. During his career, Gratzek has served as director of aseptic technology (a food processing technique) and project applications with TetraPak; director of innovation, technology and quality with General Mills; and senior vice president for research, quality and innovation with Sunopta Inc.

As farmers across the state swelter in the summer heat tending crops and livestock, food scientists inside a state-of-the-art 14,500-square-foot facility on the University of Georgia campus in Griffin are laboring over a different side of the agricultural equation: How can we get the biggest bang for the buck from Georgia’s food commodities?

UGA’s Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center is a one-stop shop for food businesses looking to launch a product. FoodPIC, as it’s known, provides support for product feasibility, development, packaging, food safety, consumer acceptance (for example, crickets, even in powdered form, are a tricky food sell) and marketing. The center, part of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, primarily works with Georgia companies and commodities, although it also conducts research and development for entities in other states as well as overseas.

A glance inside a display case near the entrance bears evidence of FoodPIC’s involvement in bringing locally made products to the marketplace: a tub of Proper Pepper pimento cheese, a jar of Classic City Bee Company smoked honey, a bottle of Pecan Ridge Plantation pecan truffle oil, a package of Charleston & Church cheddar rounds.

The UGA FoodPIC team (Dr. Kirk Kealey, Dr. Dick Phillips, Lauren Hatcher, Bobby Goss, and Gana Otgonbayar) were heavily involved in the 2018 Flavor of Georgia Contest in Atlanta on March 20. This UGA sponsored contest solicits product submissions from food entrepreneurs and companies across Georgia. This year's event had 125 submissions.

University of Georgia scientists are now better equipped to help businesses launch new food products with the opening of the Food Technology Center, locally known as the FoodPIC building, on the UGA Griffin campus. The facility houses the university’s Food Product Innovation and Commercialization, or FoodPIC, Center.

The $7.4 million project was funded through $3.5 million from the state of Georgia and additional funds from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Griffin-Spalding Development Authority and the University of Georgia.

The state-of-the-art 14,500-square-foot facility was dedicated on Jan. 30 with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Speakers at the ceremony included Board of Regents Chairman Dr. C. Thomas Hopkins Jr., state Rep. David Knight (R-Griffin), Chairman of the Griffin-Spalding Development Authority Board Charles Copeland, Dean and Director of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Sam Pardue, and Pike County STEM Academy student Nikki Dodson, along with UGA President Jere W. Morehead.

“The Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center is an outstanding example of the University of Georgia using its resources to help strengthen our state’s economy,” Morehead said. “We are grateful for the support we have received for the new Food Technology Center, and we are excited to expand the reach of FoodPIC within the global food industry.”

Tucked into a corner of the University of Georgia’s campus in Griffin, Georgia, FoodPIC is an innovative research center that could be a key component in bringing business and industry to the state. UGA’s Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center (FoodPIC) is already a valuable asset to Sean McMillan, UGA’s Atlanta-based economic development director, when he meets with companies interested in moving to Georgia. There are only 13 similar facilities in the U.S., the closest in North Carolina and Tennessee.

“If we’re competing with a state that doesn’t have something like this, we have an advantage,” said McMillan. “It’s an asset and we’re communicating that to companies that are looking to expand their existing operations or establish a presence here.”

FoodPIC, which will soon occupy a new 14,500-square-foot facility in Griffin, assists companies in developing new food products efficiently and economically. Faculty in the UGA Department of Food Science and Technology, part of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, initiated the center.

Among the products in development are nut milks, hot sauces and meat rubs. Faculty members are also exploring blueberry wine and carbonated yogurt, and studying the shelf life of these and other novel food products.

A neat, long pile of soil anchored with red handled shovels standing at attention waited under blue skies and perfect fall temperatures as a crowd gathered to witness the long awaited groundbreaking for the UGA Griffin Food Technology Center on Friday, October 17th. The event was more a celebration of the culmination of local, university and state efforts to build this world class center a proper home from which to operate. Gov. Nathan Deal, UGA President Jere Morehead, Regent Tommy Hopkins, Rep. David Knight and Griffin Spalding Development Authority Chairman Chuck Copeland all spoke to the gathering, reminding everyone of the importance of the FoodPIC Center to the community, the university, the country and the world.

Let the dirt be turned! View the ceremony photos here.

Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson and Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black came to Griffin on June 19 for a tour of the campus. The tour included updates on existing projects between Georgia Tech researchers and UGA Center for Food Safety scientists and research on parasites, pathogens on cantaloupes and an antimicrobial food rinse developed by CFS Director Michael Doyle and research scientist Tong Zhao. The guests also sampled Georgia blueberries in the sensory lab and heard updates on blueberry and poultry projects conducted in the Food Innovation and Commercialization Center. University System of Georgia Regent and local orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tommy Hopkins organized and attended the tour. State Representative David Knight was also on hand participating in campus tour.