Public Funding for Advanced Microwave Technologies Ltd

This highly collaborative UK-India academia-industry project aims to translate into an India context existing technology for converting the biological fraction of mixed solid waste into non-food sugar that can be used in a wide variety of sustainable and biogeradable products such as binders in the construction industry, bioplastics, fermentation and pharmaceuticals. The bio-waste in India presents problems of collection, segregation and unfavourable composition the project will develop new pre-treatments, better enzymes and a process adaptable to different bio-wastes and capable of generating energy to power the plant and sell. A focus of the project is to make the sugar for the right cost and quality. A pilot plant will be developed to produce to samples for target markets and production data suitable for investment cases into full-scale plants. The project will impact upon waste collection people and methods, regional authorities and companies, to help reduce environmental burden, create wealth through new MSW plants, sale of non-food sugar, and develop biocatalysts and processes that can be used elsewhere in the world particularly developing countries.

The REMAC project aims to demonstrate the 30% reduction of sugar and or fat and the addition of fibre to confectionary, bakery and sauce products. This will be achieved through the use of highly functional natural cellulosic materials produced from root vegetable sources as substitute for the sugar or fat. The success of this project will make a significant contribution to the production of healthier food products. Which support the government aims of increasing fibre intake to 30g per day and reduce fat and sugar, helping in the longer term to reduce the related health issues and the associated costs to consumers and the health service.

Recent governmental and sector initiatives call for more efficient processes in manufacturing including reducing energy usage and water consumption. The project aims to use a new method of heating to cook Quorn products with a concomitant reduction in energy use, water consumption and intensification of the process by streamlining and close coupling. Outputs of the project will be a significant reduction in manufcaturing footprint, reduction in enrgy use and reduction of the overall water consumption of our process as per FDF guidelines. Other outputs for our partner will include increased understanding of how microwaves interact ina continous process with a range of viscous food materials

Microwave volumetric heating (MVH), is a unique and highly innovative technology developed by Advanced Microwave Technology (AMT) Ltd. Designed for the thermal processing of liquids and semi-solids, it is associated with a number of practical, technical and economic benefits and has been proven to pasteurise fruit beverages with minimal loss of nutrients and significant extensions to shelf-life. This project will focus on translating this knowledge to the more challenging products, processing scale and legislative landscape within which the UK dairy sector operates. The key objectives are: 1. To compare MVH treated products with conventionally HTST pasteurised products in terms of shelf-life, nutritional content and organoleptic properties, 2. To optimise MVH processing for two dairy products, and 3. To assess the practical and economic issues involved with scaling up MVH processing. New knowledge relating to novel processing technology that has the potential to increase the biosecurity of dairy products whilst maximising the preservation of the nutritional content and quality, is of enormous value to the dairy industry.

Advanced Microwave Technologies Ltd has developed a unique method of delivering microwave energy into flowing liquids, suspensions and semi-solids on a continuous basis. Termed Microwave Volumetric Heating (MVH), it is rapidly being adopted by the UK food and drink industry because of the significant technical, practical and economic advantages that it brings. The most significant economic and shelf-life gains have been seen in the production of cooked sausage. In contrast to conventional production methods where the ingredients are packed into ‘chubs’ which are heated in steam ovens for 2-3 hours, the ingredients are cooked in seconds by MVH and then ‘hot filled’ into casings. A broad range of ‘deli’ products can potentially be manufactured in this way and AMT are seeking expertise to optimise the formulation for the MVH continuous process.

Microwave volumetric heating (MVH), a unique technology developed by Advanced Microwave Technology (AMT) Ltd for pasteurising liquids, has the potential to inactivate Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). The key objectives are: 1. To determine MVH thermal inactivation curves for MAP in phosphate buffered saline, 2. To investigate inactivation of MAP spiked retail milk by MVH at 65, 75, 85 and 95oC and 3. To investigate inactivation of Escherichia coli in buffer and retail milk by MVH at 65, 75, 85 and 95oC. The resistance of MAP to standard High Temperature Short Time pasteurisation conditions is of concern due to the controversy that exists over the zoonotic potential of MAP and the known contamination of milk supplies. New knowledge relating to the inactivation of this resilient pathogen and efficient pasteurisation methods is of great value to the dairy industry.

Most UK adults currently exceed the daily recommended intake of salt. Reducing the salt content of convenience foods is likely to reduce overall salt consumption and have a positive impact on public health. Food cooked using Microwave Volumetric Heating (MVH), a unique technology developed by Advanced Microwave Technology (AMT) Ltd, has been observed to be 'saltier' than that cooked by conventional means. The key objectives are: 1. To formally compare recipes cooked by MVH and conventional methods for taste, 2. To reformulate 4 food products cooked by MVH to comply with recommended salt levels (FSA 2012) and 3. Assess the products in terms of key food attributes, nutritional analysis and shelf life. This new knowledge will have significant potential to assist the reformulation of reduced salt foods which will have great added value for food manufacturers.