HPP Tolling Centre Launch

September 27, 2019

Singapore Polytechnic’s Food Innovation & Resource Centre (FIRC) together with Enterprise Singapore and Warehouse Logistics Net Asia (WLNA), have jointly set up a High Pressure Processing (HPP) Resource Sharing Facility to provide food companies with access to advanced food processing technology without having to acquire expensive machinery.

The HPP equipment owned by FIRC and leased to WLNA, allows companies to improve their capabilities in developing healthier and quality food products with extended shelf life, which opens up opportunities in global exports. This strong public-private effort is the first in the pipeline of shared facilities that are slated to be rolled out for the food industry over the next three years in line with the Food Manufacturing Industry Transformation Map.

HPP is a cold / non-thermal pasteurisation process that is relatively new to Singapore food companies. It applies ultra-high pressure of up to 600 MPa to disrupt cellular activity and thus kill food-borne pathogens in packaged chilled products instead of heat or chemicals to food. The HPP technology is able to retain fresh product characteristics, sensorial and nutritional qualities while extending shelf-life by two to four times.

As a Centre of Innovation, FIRC plays a pivotal role in engaging food companies with knowledge sharing, and facilitating the adoption of HPP as part of the food manufacturing value chain. FIRC provides consultancy services and offers technical expertise to food companies, including assistance to integrate HPP to their production, conducting post HPP shelf-life evaluation study based on food safety and quality attributes, and troubleshooting technical issues which may arise in products that have undergone HPP. Apart from HPP, FIRC also provides technical expertise to facilitate product conceptualisation to commercialisation, including packaging and sensory evaluation.