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EnWave Corporation announced that it has successfully applied its Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) technology to dehydrate probiotics and enzymes used in the food and fine biochemical industries.
The company has now conducted a range of internal and third party tests to determine the feasibility of using REV technology in dehydrating probiotics and enzymes. As with other REV applications, EnWave is seeking an alternative to the industry standard of freeze drying, which is time consuming, expensive and can require constant refrigeration of the end product during storage and shipment. If successful, commercial scale dehydration of probiotics and enzymes using REV would serve to reduce manufacturing and distribution costs while improving retention and shelf life of live material in the end product.
EnWave Chairman and Co-CEO Dr Tim Durance stated: "EnWave has received encouraging results from our research in using REV to dehydrate probiotics and enzymes in small vials, and additional research will now be undertaken to refine the process and design equipment suitable for meeting commercial processing requirements in this industry."
Enzymes
Enzymes are proteins occurring in nature that help speed up biochemical processes. In the food industry, they are used in the production of everything from wine and cheese to corn syrup and baked goods. Enzymes allow food manufacturers to produce more of a particular product in a shorter amount of time, eliminate the need for harmful chemicals in the production process and in some cases reduce water as well as energy consumption. The $4.1 billion global enzyme market is forecast to grow 7.6% annually through 2011, according to The Freedonia Group Inc – a Cleveland based industrial market research firm.
Probiotics
Probiotics are `friendly' bacteria that reside in the intestinal tract and are commonly added to foods such as yogurt and other dairy products to promote good health. A growing number of studies suggest that these tiny, living organisms fight digestive disorders and boost the ability to ward off some infections. While they thrive in dairy products, probiotics are difficult to keep alive in a dry environment. As a result, food manufacturers are continuing to look for new technologies that will convert live, active probiotics to a dry format in order to introduce a wider range of probiotic fortified food products such as cereal bars, dry cereals and snack foods. According to BCC Research, the US market for probiotics reached $764 million in 2005 and is expected to increase at an average annual growth rate of 7.1% to $1.1 billion in 2010.
Future goals
EnWave's goal is to develop new REV technology capable of dehydrating probiotics and enzymes using a continuous bulk powder processing method. The initial proof of concept, expected later in 2008, will be used to determine the feasibility and commercial scalability of the technology. A successful bulk powder processing method for dehydrating food cultures will also compliment EnWave's current work in the pharmaceutical field where freeze dried bulk powder processing is widely used in pharmaceutical production including antibiotics and certain types of vaccines and antibodies.