Ixon Food Tech eyes commercialization of aseptic vacuum packaging for meats, seafood, eggs
14 Sep 2020 --- Hong Kong-based start-up Ixon Food Technology has made scalable progress to commercialize its technology to naturally preserve foods without additives or high temperatures.
PackagingInsights speaks with founder and CEO Felix Cheung about the commercialization barriers and progress made with the company’s advanced sous-vide aseptic packaging (ASAP) in the past year, following an interview with our sister publication, FoodIngredientsFirst, last October.
“I am a true believer of the saying, ‘all new ideas sound crazy until they are not.’ I am confident that if consumers can accept plant-based meat and stem cell-based meat, there would be no trouble for them to accept our products,” says Cheung.
“Over the past year, we have enhanced the design, safety and user-friendliness of our products. Also, we learned that scaling a deep technology is very different from scaling a food tech – you need not one but multiple strategic partners to overcome the high barriers to entry.”
How does ASAP work?
Foods packaged with ASAP can last for extended periods like canned foods but still taste fresh. Heating canned foods at a high temperature of 121℃ for 15 to 40 minutes gives them a “dry, sad, overcooked” texture. ASAP, however, separates food components with different sterilization techniques to ensure they stay fresh.
The ASAP technology sterilizes separate ingredients below 121℃.The packaging uses vaporized hydrogen-peroxide (H2O2) for sterilization, a common technique used for milk aseptic packaging for more than 70 years.
To sterilize liquids, such as oils and sauces, Ixon applies 160℃ for five to ten minutes. Cheung says it is “okay” to use high temperatures here because liquids are “difficult to overcook.” For solids such as meat, the start-up raises the surface temperature to 160℃ for 30 seconds. Given bacteria exist on the outside of the meats only, they can be quickly zapped by high heats.
Finally, all ingredients are combined under a sterile environment and create a vacuum seal to lock in the meat’s freshness. The sealed bag is placed inside of a digital water bath and cooked at 60℃ for two hours. Sterilizing the food products cut out refrigeration requirements and allow them to remain shelf-stable for months, if not years,” Cheung details.
The Ixon technology applies to meat, fish, seafood, eggs, as well as vegetables that have a volume – such as root vegetables and pumpkins. “Our technology is not yet applicable to baked goods, dairy, leafy vegetables, mince and fruits. However, we are working toward this,” Cheung notes.
Crowdfunding on the horizon
With the safety and reliability of its products top of mind, Ixon has spent the last three years developing peripheral technologies as well as food formulations to overcome this problem.
Now, Ixon is working with meat companies in the US and Europe toward commercialization and mass production.
The start-up will be launching a Kickstarter campaign at the end of this month, where it will offer over 1,000 pieces of meat sirloin steak and pork chops worldwide for pre-order. “This shows our confidence in the safety and reliability of our products,” adds Cheung.
ASAP food products are aseptically packaged, meaning they can be taken through customs anywhere in the world.
Prior to cooking, the steak was placed at room temperature for over a month.The technology uses fewer resources, prevents food loss throughout the supply chain and facilitates access to a healthy food supply. Therefore, Cheung details that his technology targets 10 out of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), and Climate Action (SDG 13).
Automation challenges
The biggest hurdle to this technology going mainstream is the automation of the sterilization/packaging process. “We are currently working with meat processors, food packaging equipment suppliers, and aseptic packaging experts toward building the world’s first automated production line for making ASAP products autonomously,” says Cheung.
“We estimated that if the production line processes a metric ton of food per day continuously for five years, the technology would cost less than US$2 per kilogram of food processed irrespective of the type of food being processed.
Another obstacle is convincing consumers that the products maintain their taste and texture inside ASAP and, more importantly, are safe to consume. Notably, amid heightened consumer demand for clean label ingredients, a recent study revealed that food that spoils faster is associated with being more natural.
“I believe that as with any ground-breaking technology, you need to educate the public on the underlying science before you can gain consumers’ trust. Once you have tried using our products, there is no going back because of their amazing taste, quality, consistency, convenience, shelf life, and sustainability,” concludes Cheung.
By Anni Schleicher
