At JBT’s Food Technology Centers, our experts help you compose an even better plant-based product. Throughout the years, we have conducted tens of thousands of application tests on a wide variety of food products. So, whether you want to improve your recipe or investigate how your plant-based meat product behaves in a specific setting, we tailor a high-performing test procedure for you. Our Food Technology Centers are located in Helsingborg (Sweden), Livingston (UK), and Sandusky, Ohio (USA). The centers are fully equipped with innovative food processing solutions for you to try out.
Why should I test my plant-based meat product?
At our Food Technology Centers, we can test how your product behaves in our machinery. When you process food, there is always a possibility that the color, texture, taste, and mouthfeel is affected. That’s why it’s a good idea to conduct a test before setting up the production line. The tests may show that your product loses some color when frozen and that glazing or adding bar marks could help improve its appearance. Or perhaps the taste is affected, and you need to add more of a particular ingredient to create a better meat replacement product. Our food experts will assist you with everything from evaluating the right cooking temperature to defining the ultimate process for your application. All our analyses aim to find out how to manage your product and equipment best to ensure optimum quality.
The world’s largest application test database
Our application test database is probably the world’s largest, with more than 10 000 conducted tests globally. Our skilled and experienced staff combine the database with their knowledge, product demonstration and high-quality equipment to deliver exciting new processes to your product. The database helps us estimate how the plant-based meat product will behave when processed in a particular machine. Once the test is finalized, we can suggest improvements to help you achieve an even better result, with maximum profit. Everything you learn in our Food Technology Centers can be carried back to and implemented in your production site. Of course, we handle your test results with the highest regard for confidentiality.
What can you test?
Apart from testing your own product, a trial at JBT’s Food Technology Centers is also a possibility to try out our innovative equipment before investing. We can conduct the following tests:
Cooking
Coating
Frying
Ovens
Bar-marker
Cookers: contact cooking, combi cooker and impingement cooking
Freezing
Linear freezing
Spiral freezing
Crust freezing
Impingement freezing
Portioning
Test your products in a factory setting
To increase the reliability of the test results, we carefully create a test environment similar to your factory. The factory setting also gives us the possibility to scale the test to your requirements. Usually, we conduct up to three trials for each product to ensure that you have everything you need to make a rational decision.
Remote testing via live video
Over the years, many food manufacturers have travelled to JBT’s Food Technology Centers to test their products. However, if you can’t come to us, we can always conduct a remote test. Either you send us the goods, and we carry out the test via live video, or we can come to you and use our mobile test equipment in your facility.
The Future is Plant-based
Need help developing your product?
With the world’s largest database with application tests and more than 30 years of experience in processing plant-based protein, we know how to make the most out of your product in terms of taste, yield and consistency. The food experts at our Food Technology Centers help you develop your ideas or enhance existing ones. The tests can be conducted on our testing site in person or via live video link or as on-site demonstrations with our mobile lab equipment in your facility.