Agrifood Technology Station (ATS)

The ATS is a platform that provides a range of interdisciplinary technological services to the agrifood sector, focusing on existing smaller and medium enterprises, with a view to improving competitiveness, innovation, and research and development capacity in a sustainable manner. It is funded by the TIA, an initiative of the DST. ATS is located on the Bellville campus, and includes a pilot plant with various processing areas, general and cold stores, and a number of laboratories.

Technology in the publication High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC): Principles, Practices and Procedures.

• Contribution to an MTech dissertation via an ATS intern who will graduate in 2015. The project dealt with food fibre, one of which was pineapple fibre, as part of an ATS client intervention.

Highlights for 2014

• The completion of a study into the sugar content and maximum sugar crystallisable in a variety of dates for a client. This information is to be used to inform further business decisions regarding the specific date variety and is to be carried forward independent of ATS.

• Ongoing assistance with the Blue Karoo Trust aquaculture project, involving process and product development. A THRIP application was submitted at the end of 2014 by ATS in conjunction with the client and CPUT’s Department of Food Science & Technology. The total value of the project is R24 million. The client has had an ongoing relationship with ATS for the last five years.

• A link formed with the United Khayelitsha Informal Traders Association, which resulted in three workshops being conducted and plans for further collaborative activities.

• Contribution of a book chapter in collaboration with the Department of Food Science &

• The appointment of project engineers for the construction of a chocolate manufacturing facility made possible by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and industry funding. ATS has also taken up membership of ZDS in Solingen, Germany, and is involved in the planning Chocotec SA 2017.

• Completion of upgrades to heat processing equipment in the pilot plant at ATS. This has allowed more clients to use our premises for heat processing trials of different sorts. Clients include HG Mölenaar, Freddy Hirsch, Blue Karoo Trust, Super Juice, Avedia Foods, and Product & Process Innovations.

• Hosting the biennial Food Innovation Symposium which was attended by approximately 80 people, including DST’s Director of Technology Localisation.

• Ongoing collaboration with an entrepreneur in a fish-drying project which is to be rolled out to appropriate communities. ATS is conducting a technical verification of the process while also assisting with a partnership involving Cape Nature Conservation (fresh-water fish), I&J (to be confirmed), the Western Cape Provincial Government and possibly Stellenbosch University (SU) (to be confirmed). This is also part of a Service Learning project with CPUT’s Department of Food Science & Technology.

• Acquisition of new analytical equipment worth R4 200 000 funded by TIA, including a GS-MS with headspace analyser, steam-jacketed autoclave, pilot-scale freeze-dryer, bench-top freeze-dryer, air sampler for microbiological analysis, Vitek microbiology analyzer, Rheolab QC and a Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA).

• Numerous interventions in the teaching arena –using technologies acquired by ATS – e.g. heat penetration studies at postgraduate level, and the re-establishment and extension of the microbiology culture collection using the newly acquired Vitek analyser and bench-top freeze-dryer.

• Acquiring two more projects involving master’s studies by ATS employees – one attached to a client (in the field of vinegar) and the second dealing with enriched dairy products.

• The ATS received R3 700 000 for operational costs form TIA as well as R350 000 for internships for the period under review.

• Maricel Krügel (Senior Lecturer, Department of Food Science & Technology) won the award for the Best Poster presentation at the ISEKI Food Conference in Athens in May.

Chocolate factory for CPuT

The food Technology Department and the agrifood Technology Station are becoming a part of the multimillion rand chocolate industry, assisted by a r5 million grant from the DTI. The funds are being used to set up a chocolate factory at the food Technology facility in Bellville. The South african Chocolate and Sweets Manufacturing association is also donating professional services and equipment to the value of r2.3 million. The training opportunities that arise will provide students with the skills needed to become key role players in the country’s booming chocolate industry.

Prof Jessy van Wyk, head of the food Technology Department, said this new venture will allow lecturing staff to expand their practical training offerings and innovation activities that could see students developing CPUT’s own line of chocolates and sweets. With community interaction high on CPUT’s agenda, the chocolate factory will also act as a hub for training small business owners and as a catalyst to grow the country’s SMMe sector.