Process squeezes germs out, keeps food's flavor, nutrition in

KENT, Wash. -- Every kid knows what it means to be squished like a bug.

These days, scientists are using water under high pressure -- about 37,000 pounds per square inch -- to squish bugs we can't even see, the ones that cause food to spoil or cause illness.

The goal is to make food safe without cooking all the flavor and nutrition out of it.

High-pressure processing is just one of the new technologies emerging to tackle this challenge. Irradiation, being used in moderate doses for raw meat products now sold in the Midwest may be the best known.

But the process being pioneered here by Fresher Under Pressure may do the least damage to food. The company is a fledgling subsidiary of Flow International, an industry leader whose high-pressure water jets are used to cut everything from disposable diapers to 12-inch-thick titanium.

Flow's processors use high pressure to squeeze the germs -- but not the color, flavor, texture or nutrients -- out of guacamole, salsa, avocado slices, deli meats, juice and raw oysters.

Foods are simply placed inside the device and pressure applied, for a few minutes at most.

Products must contain moisture for the process to work. Food is not crushed because the pressure is uniformly applied -- as marine life is not crushed at the bottom of the ocean, where pressure is about 15,000 pounds per square inch.

Effective against E. coli

The process has been proven effective "in killing bacteria such as E. coli, listeria," said researcher V.M. Bala at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology near Chicago, where Flow and other corporate partners work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and scientists from Illinois Institute of Technology.

And pressurized foods "are much closer to natural-looking, fresh-looking," Bala noted.

The next step, and it may be just a few years away from supermarket shelves, is "shelf-stable" food that will keep for months without refrigeration.

Researchers believe a combination of pressure and moderate heat -- in the 158-degree to 203-degree range -- will do the trick.

The Army, which is looking for an alternative to its Meals Ready to Eat, or MREs, is supporting the research.

These meals are expected to taste "just prepared" when they're heated and served, said Edmund Ting, chief technology officer for Fresher Under Pressure.

High temperatures and irradiation can undermine flavor and nutrition. Freezing and thawing also change foods, and leave some vegetables "kind of limp, kind of tough and chewy. So hopefully this technology will get us to the point it'll be a lot crisper," Ting said.