The Great Lakes HPP Food Innovation Center in Taylor, Michigan, outside of Detroit, is now open for business. Jack and Annette Aronson, co-founders of Garden Fresh Gourmet, opened the center with the intention of helping Michigan’s food industry access one of the largest high-pressure processing (HPP) machines in the world, JBT-Avure’s innovative AV-X.
The fully expanded AV-X at the Innovation Center will be able to process 70 million pounds of food per year, which means a large number of food entrepreneurs in Michigan will have access to HPP, increasing the shelf life of their clean label products and helping them expand their markets.
“I think we have terrific food in Michigan and the rest of the world is finding out.” Jack Aronson said. “We can put more products on the market.”
The Great Lakes HPP center also offers lab testing for food businesses. Its services include product preparation, packaging, and high-pressure processing to test shelf life on site. The Innovation Center is located in a 40,000 square-foot facility with an additional lease of a 250, 000 square-foot building which the Aronsons plan to purchase.
Brands currently using the Great Lakes HPP Food Innovation Center include Drought Juice, Garden Fresh and Clean Planet Foods, which all take advantage of the benefits of HPP.
“HPP can extend Drought Juice’s shelf life from three days to 40 days, which can help make them a national brand,” Aronson said. “They can deliver all over the United States now.”
Aronson was an early adopter of HPP with his line of Garden Fresh Gourmet salsas. HPP helped Aronson to grow Garden Fresh Gourmet from a regional to international brand by extending the shelf life of the fresh salsa while maintaining the taste, all without the addition of preservatives. Aronson sold Garden Fresh Gourmet to New Jersey-based Campbell’s Soup Company in 2015.
