Scantech Sciences,a company using controlled amounts of high-energy, ionizing electrons to treat produce is partnering with Jefferson Lab to explore how our advanced accelerator technology might help them treat more food faster.
Advanced accelerator technology can make fresh produce safer, faster
NEWPORT NEWS, VA— Sometimes research at Jefferson Lab in a core technology area aligns with the interest of a company at a time that is beneficial for both. That has been particularly true with Jefferson Lab’s partnership with ScanTech Sciences, a company founded in 2009 with a grant from the State of Texas’ Emerging Technology Fund. ScanTech Sciences, Inc. designs, builds, and operates unique Electronic Cold-Pasteurization™ (ECP™) treatment facilities for food safety and sterilization solutions that works by showering food commodities with controlled amounts of high-energy, ionizing electrons.
This aligns with Jefferson Lab’s work designing the next generation of industrial accelerators for electron beam irradiation applications. The goal of this research is increasing efficiency and throughput of irradiated materials over currently available accelerators. “We are partnering with ScanTech a company focused on food irradiation for sterilization purposes,” says Fay Hannon, Jefferson Lab accelerator scientist. ScanTech’s new facility in Texas is already booked to capacity before it even becomes fully operational.” Utilizing Jefferson Lab technology in future plants offers ScanTech Sciences the potential to increase throughput by 4 times. Another benefit of Jefferson Lab’s lower energy portable design is the capability to sterilize lettuce immediately after picking on-site, since lettuce is often processed and packaged at the farm for freshness – this is particularly timely given recent romaine lettuce scares.
ScanTech Sciences, a company that started in Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center, has spent more than a decade working on the technology, and today is the world’s only provider of fully integrated ECP food treatment systems and turnkey food treatment solutions. In addition to its effectiveness, this technology is incredibly safe—as safe, in fact, as operating a common household microwave. ECP is also a green technology, using zero chemicals and considerably less energy than traditional alternatives. The ECP technology led to ScanTech Sciences’ selection as the 2018 winner of the Viva Fresh Produce Expo “Most Innovative Product Solution- Food Safety.“
“ScanTech Sciences has been an active partner in technology transfer at Jefferson Lab,” says Jefferson Lab Chief Technology Officer Drew Weisenberger, “Not only in collaborative R&D, but sharing their expertise and experience in the development and commercialization of their technology with inventors at the lab as part of our Internal Inventors Academy.”
“We are excited about working directly with Jefferson Lab where they are already pushing the envelope in accelerator technology,” says Chip Starns, COO and Co-Founder at ScanTech. “This partnership could be a real boost to our ability to meet the growing demand for this new, clean, and efficient means of ensuring the safety and extending shelf life of items in our food chain.”
For more Information on ScanTech Sciences ECP process, see https://www.scantechsciences.com/en/
Contact: Deborah Dowd, Jefferson Lab Communications Office, 757-269-7180, dowd@jlab.org