American Certified Research Laboratories (ACRL), WTI’s food safety research lab continuously explores novel and improved food safety interventions to enhance safety and quality of various food products. ACRL is based on the international management system standards ISO/IEC 17025:2005 for testing laboratories and performs microbiological testing, challenge testing, and research on various types of food products, raw materials related to food, and environmental samples.
Performance Validation
Our research capabilities and techniques in the food safety laboratory enable us to simulate actual food processing environment in the lab. We test a combination of WTI ingredients with technologies to create a unique food safety intervention that creates a hurdle effect, exploits synergies and is a more effective and comprehensive food product solution that results in safer products for the consumers.
Pathogen Testing
WTI products are highly effective in controlling the outgrowth Listeria monocytogenes. While we recognize the importance of controlling Listeria as a food safety issue, we are continuously performing research to develop new product formulations to address a wide range of other food-borne pathogens such as:
- Salmonella spp.
- Escherichia coli
- Clostridium perfringens
- Staphylococcus aureus
- Bacillus cereus
- Candida spp.
- Listeria monocytogenes
- Others
New Technologies and Applications
With a strong foundation of serving the meat and poultry industry, WTI continues to expand its capabilities by performing innovative research to develop new applications of its functional food ingredients to enhance shelf-life and provide pathogen control in other food groups. Some of our new applications include:
- Cheese
- Deli-style salads such as chicken salad, tuna salad, pasta salad, macaroni salad
- Dips such as hummus, guacamole
- Dry pet treats
- Gel casings