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Services

Work with highly trained and experienced food professionals who have worked the entire product continuum, from raw materials and prototyping to manufacturing and commercialization.

Product ideation

Looking to expand your current product line to be more attractive to consumers and investors? Want to grab a piece of the growing plant-based food market? Our team has helped countless food companies create exciting new product ideas, and we can do the same for you. We’ll lead you in group sessions using proven innovation disciplines to come up with your next big product.

  • Marketing: Establish a strong marketing plan for your product. We can identify your target audience along with their needs, wants and the best marketing strategy for reaching them.
  • Consumer focus groups: Shape your product ideas with input from your ideal customers, ensuring you’re aligned before you spend on production.
  • Sensory testing: Maximize your product’s appeal with sensory services, offered at our Raleigh campus. We’ll help optimize your product’s flavor, color, texture, format and packaging.

Move your product from an idea on paper to a delicious (and efficient) result, ready for production. We’ll start by perfecting a prototype in our test kitchen and quality assurance lab, then scale it up to a commercial formula in our state-of-the-art pilot plant. All while keeping your goals of great taste, low cost and other efficiencies in mind.

Product development lab features

  • 740 sq. ft. of product development and test kitchen space
  • 175 sq. ft. of QC/QA laboratory space
  • 160 sq. ft. of collaborative meeting space
  • Product analysis and test equipment, including viscosity, Brix, pH, texture, color and microbiological
  • Walk-in and reach-in refrigerators and freezers
  • 2 dishwashers, hand washing and lab sinks
  • Laminar flow and fume hoods
  • Library of food ingredients
  • Incubators and environmental chambers
  • Coffee bean roaster and peanut butter mill
  • Walk-in refrigerators and freezers

Test kitchen appliances

  • Commercial stove and griddle
  • Deep fryer
  • Grill Station
  • Convection oven
  • Assorted refrigeration and freezing capability
  • Commercial microwave
  • Beverages – still, fortified, alcoholic
  • Baked Goods – nutrition bars, breads, sweets, and other bakery traditions
  • Confectionary – fillings, coatings, panned
  • Sauces – sweet and savory
  • Snack foods – extruded and seasoned
  • Prepared meals – vegan and vegetarian, refrigerated and frozen finished products and kits
  • Meat-analogues
  • Cereals and pastas

Pilot Plant Production

Evaluate new ingredients, formulations and processes on a small scale, under the highest standards at the NC Food Innovation Lab. Designed specifically for the plant-based food manufacturer, our pilot plant operates under rigorous hygienic conditions. We’re the only facility in the region certified in the FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), so you can be sure your product meets the highest requirements for quality, purity and strength.

Take advantage of both traditional and innovative food processing techniques on our state-of-the-art equipment. We can run the process and ship your product to you, or you can work directly with our processing team on site.

From blanching to juicing to slicing, our facility has all the essential technology for processing fruits, vegetables and plants into food ingredients or finished food products.

Equipment list:

  • Dixie M-6 Blancher
  • Dixie Lye Peeler Vat
  • Industrial peeler
  • Good Nature X6 Juicer
  • Urschel RA-A slicer, dicer, macerator
  • Langsenkamp 18P pulper/finisher
  • Speidel bladder press
  • Lee processing kettles (25, 60, 100 gal)
  • Breddo 50-gallon Likwifier
  • Lee storage tanks (50, 125, 200 gal)
  • Basket Centrifuge

We can ensure your food meets quality standards using a variety of thermal techniques and equipment.

Equipment list:

  • Allpax 2402 Retort
  • MicroThermics MTI BioPharm HTST/UHT Thermal Processor with homogenization and clean fill hood
  • Sinnovatek Nomadic Continuous Flow Microwave Processor
  • 50-gallon vacuum pan
  • Waukesha Cherry-Burrell Votator
  • CiderSure 3500 UV Pasteurizer
  • Twin screw extruder

We have the most current equipment available to recover valuable food components such as oil, sugar, proteins, fibers, colors or phytonutrients.

Equipment list:

  • Alfa Laval Clara 20 Separator
  • Armfield FT29 solvent extractor
  • Armfield FT18 UF/DF/MF/RO membrane filtration skid
  • Armfield FT22 rising film evaporator
  • Cold Press oil extractors
  • Centrifuge oil cleaner

Freeze, convection, microwave, spray—we offer the full range of drying technology to test on your product.

Equipment list:

  • GEA Mobile Minor spray dryer
  • Millrock Stellar tray freeze dryer
  • Blodgett tray convection dryer
  • Excalibur Com-1 tray dehydrator

Any ingredient, dropped down to any size and blended on our state-of-the-art equipment.

Equipment list:

  • Frewitt FlexMill-Lab
  • Sweeco vibratory sieve screens
  • Ensight 150# single shaft
  • Ross dual ribbon mixer
  • PK V-blender (4, 16 qt)

We offer the region’s only plant-based pilot plant with cGMP capabilities.

Equipment list:

  • MicroThermics MTI BioPharm HTST/UHT Thermal Processor with homogenization and sterile fill hood
  • Sinnovatek Nomadic Continuous Flow Microwave Processor
  • 50-gallon vacuum pan
  • Waukesha Cherry-Burrell Votator
  • CiderSure 3500 UV Pasteurizer
  • SIG Bag-in-box filler
  • Storage tanks

Pilot Plant Use Cases 

There are many ways our plant-based pilot plant can serve your established company or startup. Consider using us for:

  • Testing for new product ideas or manufacturing processes
  • Producing limited runs to test in market or for a small launch
  • Optimizing an existing process and developing co-products to add value
  • Manufacturing products for clinical studies
  • Demonstration of new food ingredients in a finished product
  • Providing a proving ground for equipment in the presence of upstream and downstream processing capability