Source: NC FOOD INNOVATION LAB, 9/1/20


Equipment installation, training and commissioning advance the NC Food Innovation Lab toward full operational status. Several staff trained for a week on our AllPax retort, and several equipment pieces were commissioned and pressed into service, including the blancher, freeze dryer, dehydration cabinet, bladder presses, juicers and extractor/finisher. 

We will install our pasteurizer/sterilizer in the coming weeks, and we are preparing for training to commission this piece of equipment. Our fluid bed dryer also arrived earlier in the month and will be operational shortly. COVID-19 still plagues us with securing trainers to come into our facility for face-to-face hands-on training.  

Several more companies have requested statements of work, and we have signed more contracts with North Carolina startup companies. We also earned a contract on a National Institutes of Health grant to manufacture samples for a clinical study. Several companies are anxious to tour our facility and work with NCFIL, but due to COVID-19, we continue to limit outsiders into the facility until North Carolina moves into Phase 3.

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