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CIFT is dedicated to the enhancement of the competitive position of the food processing industry through the development and deployment of appropriate technical solutions to problems that negatively affect food quality, food safety, and food processing cost. More specifically, CIFT seeks to develop and support projects that address problems or opportunities as defined by the industry. As in the past, the goal of each CIFT project or activity is to achieve one or more of the following; to enhance the quality and consistency of value added food products, to increase the safety of a food processing technique, thereby improving the safety or security of value added food products, or, to decrease the costs associated with the production of a value added food product, thereby increasing the economic performance of its producing sector. CIFT encourages innovation by leveraging funding from private sector and other government sources to underwrite projects that are designed to assess the feasibility of emerging techniques and technologies in specific applications, or to perform late stage development and early stage commercialization studies.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) is a 501 C-3, not for profit organization whose mission is technology based economic development in the food processing and value added agriculture business sectors. The CIFT program was created as a component of the State of Ohio's Thomas Edison Program for economic development in 1995. In furtherance of its mission, CIFT has developed a number of programs, each of which has been validated by significant levels of support from the industry. All CIFT activities are intended to address one of the following food industry goals; the improvement of food safety, the enhancement of food quality, or, the improvement of industry profitability through a reduction in processing costs. The components of the CIFT program for the coming year will include the following initiatives. (a) CIFT will continue to manage an applied "problem solving" research and technology deployment program that focuses on the specific needs of industry as they relate to the goals described above. Included among areas of focus, as defined by industry, include the development and demonstration of process control systems, development of "functional ingredients", substances with health benefits beyond nutrition, and developing processes to reduce the costs associated with the treatment and disposal of waste products. (b) A Small Business program has been developed to assist small and start up food processors become established in the industry by ensuring that their products can be produced efficiently and safely. (c) CIFT will continue to work in collaboration with research partners to develop, evaluate, and demonstrate techniques to produce energy from alternate sources, including waste streams, in the food processing industry. <P>
APPROACH: There are two major components in the CIFT program. First, the technology development program organizes and completes projects whose objectives conform to the CIFT mission as described above. Secondly, CIFT has assembled an extensive industry outreach, whose components, and the procedures governing them will be discussed below. The procedures for each of the two components follow. The procedures that govern the technology development program will continue as in prior years. CIFT will solicit proposal for funding throughout the year, based on the availability of funding. These proposals will then be evaluated according to the following criteria, as in past years. One representative from each member makes up the CIFT Advisory Board, who, on the basis of majority vote, makes all project approval decisions. Board members will not be part of decisions regarding projects in which they participate. A wide range of project areas will be considered. The chief requirement is that the project must have the potential for advancing the technologies used in the processing and/or the packaging of food products. Primary focus will be given to those projects whose end results possess the potential for improving food quality and safety, or for increasing productivity and therefore lowering production costs. The factors favorably affecting evaluation include a high potential for success in the near term, broad potential applicability throughout the industry, and financial support and commitment to implement positive results from the sponsoring company. All proposals will be evaluated for both industry relevance and technical merit. The Advisory Board will use the above criteria to determine the legitimacy of the problem, the efficacy of the proposed solution, and the ability of the proposed investigator to achieve the desired research goals. Final approval will be achieved by simple majority vote (in writing) of a quorum of the membership. All selected subcontractors will be subject to all CSREES reporting requirements for each project. Mr. David Beck of EISC will serve as Project Manager, and will ensure compliance.