Newswise — At Sunday morning’s keynote session of the 2010 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo®, incoming IFT President Bob Gravani and President-Elect Roger Clemens announced and presented five companies with the 2010 IFT Food Expo Innovation Awards. The winners are Bühler Barth AG and Log5 Corporation (co-recipients), Bunge North America, Caravan Ingredients, and Handary SA.

A panel of nine jurors from industry and government with broad expertise in research & product development, processing & packaging technology, and food safety selected the five companies and their innovations from 56 qualified entries. Only companies exhibiting at the 2010 IFT Food Expo in Chicago were eligible. Judging criteria included degree of innovation, technical advancement, benefits to food manufacturers and consumers, and scientific merit. Co-recipients Bühler Barth AG and Log5 Corporation (Booth 6616) garnered the 2010 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award for their Controlled Condensation Process Pasteurization Technology, which pasteurizes low-water-activity foods, such as tree nuts, peanuts, spices, and grains, and preserves the natural quality of the food. The technology maintains thermal equilibrium conditions by controlling pressure, temperature, surface condensation, and moisture levels.

Bunge North America (Booth 4047) won the award for its Phytobake Shortening with Phytosterols. The functional shortening for bakery applications enables the dilution of the amount of traditional hard fat or saturates and trans fats used in the plastic shortenings by up to 46%. Bakers using this ingredient can produce healthier sweet goods, such as cookies, pie crusts, and cakes.

Caravan Ingredients (Booth 3823) was honored for its Trancendim Emulsifiers for Zero Trans Shortening—a zero trans, reduced saturated fat alternative for structuring fats and oils that mimics or improves the melting behavior of common fat-based products. Applications include salad dressings, frying oils, margarines, and bakery products. Users can create better-for-you products without sacrificing taste or mouthfeel.

Handary SA (Booth 6341) captured the 2010 IFT Food Expo Innovation Award for its NisinA Natural Antimicrobial Agent, a vegetable-based natural product that can improve food safety by controlling foodborne pathogens, such as Clostridium botulinum, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus. It also extends the shelf life of foods by controlling lactic acid bacteria and prevents the formation of bacteria due to high temperatures.

About IFTThe Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is a nonprofit scientific society. Our individual members are professionals engaged in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government. IFT’s mission is to advance the science of food, and our long-range vision is to ensure a safe and abundant food supply, contributing to healthier people everywhere.

For more than 70 years, the IFT has been unlocking the potential of the food science community by creating a dynamic global forum where members from more than 100 countries can share, learn, and grow. We champion the use of sound science across the food value chain through the exchange of knowledge, by providing education, and by furthering the advancement of the profession. IFT has offices in Chicago, Illinois and Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit ift.org.