Jul 06 2018

Niigata University Food Science Center exhibited at FOOMA JAPAN 2018 (International Food Machinery & Technology Exhibition) and received two awards: the second grand prize of the FOOMA JAPAN Academic Plaza Award and the AP Award (Visitors’ Evaluation Division). The commendation ceremony was held at the venue on Thursday, June 14.

FOOMA JAPAN is Asia's largest exhibition in food manufacturing and processing machinery where approximately 800 companies and universities exhibit and more than 100,000 domestic and international visitors attend.

The Academic Plaza Award is presented to participants from among the 66 exhibiting universities based on the votes of the technical members of the Japan Food Machinery Manufacturers' Association and representative directors of food-associated companies. The voting focuses on contributions to industry and academic collaboration for the future such as new product developments and technological innovations.

Our award was for "High-pressure processing technology for development of low-salt meat products" presented by Professor Tadayuki Nishiumi, Faculty of Agriculture. Food additives have conventionally been used to improve meat texture, but since excessive intake of food additives contributes to numerous diseases, establishing new processing technology is important.

This research suggests that high pressure technology can develop meat products having a desire texture without using any food additives. In the future, this technology could also be applied to other food materials such as fish, shellfish and vegetables and strongly expected.