Global Food Technologies (GFT) announced on Wednesday that it's installing and operating its first iPura® food-safety system at a seafood processing facility in China's Hainan province. The iPura system is a patented process that GFT says kills pathogens in seafood without altering the product's flavor, texture, color or nutritional value.
Last March, the Hanford, Calif., company signed an exclusive 10-year deal with the China Seafood Certification Institute to process more than 1 billion pounds of seafood using the iPura system by the end of 2009, and more than 8 billion pounds by the end of 2012.
The agreement "guarantees that our personnel provides continuous onsite food-safety and quality-assurance services at the point of processing with security controls through the distribution chain," said Keith Meeks, the company's president and CEO, in a press release.
"This Hainan location will be the first of many iPura installations in China," said Min Han, CSCIâ??s CEO. "iPura is expected to play a major role in rehabilitating Chinaâ??s food-safety image."
Additionally, GFT plans to install and operate the iPura system at a salmon processing facility in Chile this spring and is negotiating with Vietnam to apply the iPura system there, Meeks told the Fresno Bee yesterday.
