[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CAJF_dg07U&w=560&h=315]
In the first of an occasional series of High Pressure Processing (HPP) Expert Q & A Interviews from JBT Avure HPP, Patricia Truter, CEO of Vancouver-based HPP toller HPP West Coast explains how she got started in the HPP industry and went on to found the only such facility on the West Coast of Canada.
Q: How many years have you been working with HPP technology?
Patricia Truter (PT): My family started an HPP business in South Africa, and I then decided to start a tolling facility on the West Coast of Canada (Canada has only one other tolling facility, and it is on the East Coast). I started to work with a business plan and to look for funding, investors or potential partners about three years ago. I finally got my own JBTAvure machine at the end of March 2019.
Q: Why did HPP West Coast decide to buy a JBT Avure HPP machine?
PT: I visited seven different tolling facilities in the US (from different suppliers), and based on my family’s feedback and the feedback I received from tollers in the US, JBTAvure was the number one choice.
Q: What are the advantages of using a toller like HPP West Coast?
PT: The food producers do not have to set up an HPP facility themselves. They can simply send their products to us, we HPP it, and we can store it at our facility until it is ready to be distributed.
Q: What are popular foods and beverages that HPP West Coast HPP’s?
PT: We do a lot of fresh juices and dips.
Q: What do you, as an HPP toller, think are the top three drivers sparking HPP’s fast growth?
PT: Consumers want a clean label, but they also want quality and a product that will not expire within a few days.
Q: What HPP products do you have in your fridge?
PT: I HPP all the fresh milk I buy at the grocery store, guacamole, fresh juice.
JBT Avure HPP will be holding a Webinar on Thursday June 25 to discuss HPP and the growing 2020 trend for processing Ready Meals. In addition, Jasmine Sutherland, CEO of Texas Food Solutions, will join us to tell her story about launching her own HPP Ready Meal. Click here to Register for the webinar!