Research Facilities and Offices
The IFSH National Center for Food Safety and Technology utilizes a number of modern facilities fitted with top-of-the-line instrumentation and equipment to provide high-quality support to member companies, government agencies, and IIT researchers and students across multiple research efforts, including:
Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Pilot Plant, Processing Area and Kitchen Suite
This registered (licensed) FDA processing plant is capable of producing foods for sensory and nutritional studies. Equipment and features include:
- Raw material storage area with a walk-in chiller
- Kitchen/preparation area
- Quality assurance testing and high hygiene areas
- Separate processing bay suitable for proprietary work
- Equipped with a wide array of useful food processing equipment, such as vessels, kettles, mixers, pumps, homogenizers and packaging equipment
- MicroThermics Bantam 1S HTST processor
BSL-2 Processing Innovation Laboratory
The Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) processing innovation laboratory offers a wide range of laboratory to semi-pilot plant scale services that allows researchers to conduct pathogen inactivation validation work. Equipment and features include:
- Set up to handle multiple projects in a semi-pilot plant setting
- Capable of scale-up to semi-commercial scale for targeted projects
- Well-equipped with cold plasma, pulsed UV light, pulsed electric field and microwave technologies
BSL-3 Laboratory and Biocontainment Pilot Plant
The fully self-contained and certified 7,000 sq. ft. Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory and biocontainment pilot plant is used to conduct research and validation work involving large quantities of pathogens and virulent organisms. This facility is one of the first in the country specifically designed to study the behavior of pathogens in real-world food processing conditions.
- Approximately 1,500 sq. ft. of pilot plant area with plug-and-play capability
- Decontamination zone for cleaning processing equipment and equipment transfer in and out of the containment area
- Full production-scale fresh produce processing line for validation of post-harvest risk management options
- Laboratory equipped with multiple Class II biohazard cabinets, CO2 and general purpose incubators, inverted microscope, small- and large-scale hermetically sealed centrifuges, packaging equipment, ultra-low freezer and refrigerators, and anaerobic chamber
- A high temperature, short time (HTST) MicroThermics pasteurizer and aseptic filler to validate decontamination strategies for biothreat agents and pathogens
- Pass-through autoclaves and negative pressured air handling system.
- Whole room decontamination systems, and effluent decontamination and disposal system
- Highly trained staff in BSL-3 operations and protocols
High Pressure Processing Bay
A new fully self-contained processing bay for high pressure processing (HPP) research is located within the main pilot plant. Equipment and features include:
- New enhanced 24-liter Avure Technologies high pressure machine, capable of achieving 820 Mpa and high temperature for bacterial spore inactivation
- Part of the select agent license, allowing critical biological validation of HPP technology
Thermal and High Pressure Processing Laboratory
The thermal and high pressure processing laboratory is a dedicated self-contained pilot plant space that is used to carry out kinetic studies on the destruction of food-related microorganisms, especially bacterial spores. Equipment and features include:
- Crepaco plate heat exchanger to simulate HTST pasteurization processes
- Thermal death time (TDT) apparatus
- Avure PT1 high pressure machine
- 2-liter Quintus Press high pressure machine
- Part of the select agent license allowing validation studies with C. botulinum
Food Microbiology Laboratories
Six laboratories located in the main IFSH building are equipped for a variety of microbiological research, including two proficiency testing labs located in the BSL-2 space. Equipment and features include:
- Two microbiology media and reagent preparation rooms, including one used for preparing material for work with spore-forming bacteria
- Fully equipped general purpose microbiology laboratory
- Molecular biology/proficiency testing laboratory for all-purpose DNA and protein experiments
- Food microbiology/proficiency testing laboratory for preparing and handling microbiology PT samples
- Food pathogen laboratory, primarily used for projects involving work with L. monocytogenes
Applied Chemistry Laboratory
This newly renovated 1,000 sq. ft. applied chemistry lab supports research in nutrition and chemical contaminants, including investigations into the properties of food matrices related to the content and profile of antioxidant compounds and their effect on human health, as well as food safety related contaminant issues, such as acrylamide, melamine, pesticides and mycotoxins in food that may help improve food processing mitigation strategies. IFSH member Agilent Technologies is a collaborative partner in the renovation and has outfitted the lab with several pieces of equipment. Equipment and features include:
- Four large bench areas with three new and modern hoods for additional chemical and extraction processing
- Agilent rapid resolution liquid chromatograph (RRLC) with 6460 triple quadrupole (QQQ) mass spectrometer (MS); Agilent 1100 HPLC with 6500 time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS); two Agilent 1100 HPLCs with diode array and fluorescence detection; Agilent 7890 GC with 5975 single quadrupole MS; and Agilent 7890 GC with 7000 triple quadrupole MS, for pesticide, mycotoxin, drug residue and phenolic antioxidant research.
- Agilent 7000 inductive coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS), 7696A sample prep workbench and bioanalyzer, for analysis of heavy metals and other elements, fatty acid profiling and species identification of fish.
- Varian ICP with optical emission (OE) spectrometer, for nanotechnology research
- Shimadzu GC-MS with CTC headspace autosampler, for use in proficiency testing and FERN initiatives