FOOD TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS
CSIRO: at the cutting edge of new technologies for food processing Food & Beverage Industry News talks to the CSIRO’s Ciara McDonnell talks about new technologies that are having an impact on the food industry.
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hen people think of the Commonwealth Scientific Industry Research Organisation, or CSIRO as it is affectionately known, most have images of boffins in white coats working in laboratories with Petri dishes, beakers and Bunsen burners busily inventing new gizmos and gadgets for an array of industries. And while this is accurate to a degree, it also is a multi-faceted institution that has more than 5,000 dedicated staff spread around 57 sites throughout the continent. It has more than 690 patents including the one that encapsulates its most famous invention, wi-fi, and covers many research spectrums, including mining, manufacturing and food. Most recent figures state that it returns about $4.5 billion to the Australian economy annually, and partners with more than 1200 SMEs per year. It’s a very busy place, and one that attracted Irish research scientist Ciara McDonnell to Australia. McDonnell works at one of the three food sites CSIRO has set up throughout Australia. They’re at Werribee in Melbourne, North Ryde, Sydney and Coopers Plains,
Queensland, where she is based. She spoke at a seminar at the recent FoodTech Expo held in Queensland. She talked about four food technologies that could have a lasting impact on the food industry. “Coopers Plain is home to one of our food pilot plants that we share with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries,” she said. “At that pilot plant, CSIRO has an emphasis on meat processing, so we have a suite of conventional pilot scale meat processing equipment. This can enable food processors to conduct trials at reduced batch sizes until the process is ready for scale-up. Then we assist companies with that scale up to ensure the best route to commercialisation. When we do R&D, we do take a multidisciplinary approach. We have a lot of expertise in house and we understand the importance of each aspect – from safety, nutrition, processing, food chemistry and more.” Future trends are very important in the institution’s work because CSIRO want to conduct research with impact for current and future markets. And what are some of the pressing issues in the food and beverage space at the moment?
18 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au
“We can certainly say that CSIRO research scientist environment, sustainability, Ciara McDonnell. health, clean label and minimal waste are some of the top food trends that we drive towards,” said McDonnell. “CSIRO sees itself as bridging the gap between academic research and commercialisation into industry. We have access to a large suite of novel processing technologies ranging from pulse electric fields, spray drying, advanced convection, high pressure processing – the list goes on. In addition, we look after pilot scale conventional processing technologies as well.” One way of gauging where a technology is at in terms of its development towards commercialisation is the Technology Readiness Level (TRL). This can be 1 or 2, which means it is at the beginning of its What exactly is HPP? research level, and goes up to 9 or “HPP can offer an alternative 10 where it is being commercialised. to pasteurisation by inactivating High-Pressure Processing micro-organisms. A pre-packaged High-pressure processing (HPP), product is placed into a liquidwhich it is now commercialised filled chamber where it gets treated for many food applications, was but there’s no re-opening of the on the radar almost 20 years ago. pack, so no recontamination,” said
