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Next stop Düsseldorf

By the time most of you receive this issue, I’ll be pounding the aisles of Messe Düsseldorf in search of all the new things that interpack has to offer.

Chilled ready meals looks to be a category that is heating up, and it could get a big boost from microwave pasteurization technologies that extend refrigerated shelf life out to 30 days without the use of preservatives and without sacrificing taste, nutritional value, or texture.

I’ll be making a side trip to the Netherlands just before interpack to see one of these microwave pasteurization systems in action. It’s at Roem van Yerseke B.V., part of the Roem Group, which is Europe’s largest shellfish processing organization. Mussels, oysters, and shrimp are their specialty. The Yerseke plant I’m going to visit is in the Southwest part of the Netherlands, home of an estuary known as the Oosterschelde, one of the most nutritious and pure water sources that can be found in Europe.

The MicroPast technology used by the Roem Group is designed for precooked food. It includes a post-pasteurization perforation of the tray’s lidstock so that gases can be backflushed into the tray. Thus, the finished package is an example of Modified Atmosphere Packaging, or MAP. A different approach is taken by Lantmannen Gooh of Sweden, where MicVac technology is being used. Like the Roem Group, Lantmannen Gooh sends tray-packed food through microwave pasteurization. But the protein component—salmon, chicken, beef, pork—is raw. Cooking takes place in the microwave pasteurization chamber. Also, the finished pack is a vacuum pack as opposed to the backflushed MAP package favored by the Roem Group. You can read about the Lantmannen Gooh application in our June issue and Roem Group in July.

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