"FOOD IS AMERICA'S TOP BUSINESS -- largest of all the country's manufacturing industries." So says a 1993 special report published by the Institute of Food Technologists. In 1990 alone, Americans spent $546 billion on food.

In Georgia, the thriving food processing industry makes shipments of food products valued at more than $12 billion. In 1990, almost one in four employed persons in Georgia worked in the food industry. The food processing industry's impact is felt in nearly every corner of the state.

Despite the food industry's success, public concerns about food safety, nutritional value, worker safety and environmental impacts can overwhelm even the most conscientious company. Changing market conditions also pose challenges to companies seeking to introduce products, control costs and establish new markets in an expanding world economy.

To help Georgia meet these challenges, Gov. Zell Miller initiated the Food Processing Advisory Council (FoodPAC) in 1993 to enhance the competitiveness of Georgia's food processing industry. FoodPAC is part of the governor's new economic development thrust for Georgia's traditional industries -- food, textiles and paper. It is a public-private partnership of university, government and industry participants.

This sensor uses laser-based technology to detect salmonella bacteria in a fraction of the time that other methods require.

FoodPAC's goal is to make Georgia the national and international leader in food processing by the 21st century, by enhancing the competitiveness of the state's food processing and allied industries. While its primary focus is on helping existing industries grow, it hopes to attract new companies, as well.

One of FoodPAC's primary objectives is to move developments out of university laboratories and into the workplace, says Randy Powers of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.

"We are forming working alliances both between industry and the university system and between units of the university system," Powers explains. "Early results are showing that collaborative team development is working well."

A biosensor being developed at Georgia Tech, for example, will be tested by food safety experts at the University of Georgia's (UGA) Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement. Working together, these schools are moving toward a product that will help Georgia's food processors in their efforts to deliver safe, wholesome products.

Craig Wyvill of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), chairman of the FoodPAC Process and Products Competitiveness Technical Subcommittee and coordinator of FoodPAC at Tech, says the initiative is built on a solid foundation that, to a large extent, already exists in Georgia. "Our food industry and university research programs are very progressive."

Coordination and collaboration, however, have not always been what they could or should be, he says. This initiative can propel Georgia to the forefront of the international food sector.

"Cutting-edge food support activities for industry promote economic expansion, and attract new food processors and allied companies to Georgia," he explains.

Public forums addressing critical issues that affect industry competitiveness helped insure that FoodPAC was focused on the needs of state processors, says Jimmy Hill, FoodPAC chairperson.

"FoodPAC held fact-finding meetings, talked to industry associations, and held one-on-one sessions with key industry owners and leaders to fine tune action plans," Hill says.

The initiative's planning committee identified four areas of critical importance to Georgia's food industry: process and product improvement; food safety; environmental management; and human resource development. The committee recently integrated human resource development into each of the other three areas.

The technologies developed through FoodPAC -- while designed specifically for Georgia's food processing needs -- will help food processors outside the state, as well.

Process and Product Improvement

Food processors in Georgia and elsewhere are always searching for ways to meet changing consumer demands while delivering products that meet expanding markets for healthy, convenient foods. The food industry thrives on process techniques that take environmental constraints into account, meet food safety requirements and produce high quality products for consumers.

Billy Thomas, president of Thomas Packing in Griffin, Ga., says FoodPAC environmental outreach and technical programs help business people decipher regulations affecting their industries.

Process efficiency in the food industry can be achieved by incorporating advanced technologies that lower unit costs and improve overall product quality, contributing to higher profits. Finding ways to reduce the number of unskilled human links in automatic materials handling systems could be an important breakthrough in reducing workplace injuries resulting from highly repetitive activities. Developing better methods of producing food and enhancing the nutritional value of foods are important, as well. FoodPAC has sponsored projects at GTRI and UGA to enhance the food industry in these areas. These include:

Field assessments are crucial to understanding industry needs. Senior research engineer Mike Burrow of GTRI's Electro-Optics, Environment and Materials Laboratory is part of a team conducting field assessments of Georgia's food processing plants. Often one plant's needs are the same as those of others in an industry, Burrow says, so several plants usually benefit from suggested improvements. Burrow and his colleagues identify existing technologies such as robotics and automation that can help food processing plants.

Senior research engineer Wayne Daley of GTRI is directing an effort aimed at developing advanced sensor technologies to help automate quality grading, with the goal of improved productivity for Georgia's food processors.

Daley's colleague, GTRI research engineer Chris Thompson, is investigating opportunities to improve informational linkages for Georgia's food industry. He is evaluating an advanced communications infrastructure that would connect Georgia's food processors and researchers through computer interlinks.

At UGA's Department of Food Science, Dr. Romeo Toledo is developing a Food Processing Center to provide prototyping, and scale-up process assistance and technology transfer to Georgia's food processing industries. Process scale-up involves studying a process and designing a continuous, large-scale processing operation to replace the single batch test operation. Georgia Tech researchers and members of the public and private sectors will be able to use the facility to test process and product innovations under simulated industrial processing plant conditions.

Faculty from Georgia Southern and Valdosta State universities are working to define the reasons why some sectors of the food industry in Georgia are struggling.

Food Safety

Food safety and quality are among the most important issues for American consumers and the food industry. Innovative methods that detect and control harmful bacteria in foods reduce human illness and the cost of product recalls. Arresting microbial and chemical hazards in foods during processing is the most effective way to prevent costly food- poisoning outbreaks or product recalls mandated by regulatory agencies.

UGA's Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement has received support from FoodPAC to upgrade its facilities and undertake a number of studies to enhance ways of reducing pathogens in food products.

A device being developed at Georgia Tech promises to revolutionize how food safety is tested. Principal research engineer Nile Hartman, research scientist Dr. Dan Campbell and Dr. Paul Edmonds, an associate professor in the biology department, are developing a rapid- response biosensor that detects dangerous food-borne pathogens in a fraction of the time normally required. They will test the biosensor in conjunction with UGA's Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement in Griffin, Ga.

Environmental Management

Each step in food processing affects the environment. Practical and economically justified processing modifications are imperative to minimize the number of natural resources used and amount of waste products generated in processing. To reduce adverse environmental effects and the economic burdens of complying with laws and regulations, researchers at Tech and UGA are analyzing food processing techniques. They use environmental testing facilities at GTRI and at UGA's Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department to address waste problems and assess the environmental impacts of new processes.

Outreach programs make advanced technologies known to and effective for the food processing industry. Senior research engineer Jim Walsh conducts workshops and provides technical assistance on food processing environmental topics. Programs such as his half- day seminars, funded through FoodPAC, provide a wealth of information that many food processors otherwise would have difficulty obtaining. FoodPAC environmental outreach and technical assistance programs like these have helped Billy Thomas, president of Thomas Packing in Griffin, Ga., to better understand how environmental regulations affect his business. "The average small-business man does not have time to decipher the environmental regulations," Thomas explains. "If he did, he wouldn't have time to run his business."

Poised for Success

Georgia's food processing research and development infrastructure has benefitted greatly since FoodPAC's initiation. Major upgrades in university food processing research facilities are allowing research projects to be accelerated. FoodPAC's steering committee is encouraging broad participation by Georgia's more than 700 food processors. Working alliances are forming among researchers, equipment manufacturers and food processors that promise to bring exciting new advances to plant floor operations.

Georgia's food industry certainly appears to be poised to achieve the vision of this initiative.

Further information is available from Craig Wyvill, Electro-optics, Environment and Materials Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0823. (Telephone: 404/894-3412) (E-mail: craig.wyvill@gtri.gatech.edu)

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Last updated: 12 Sept. 1996