The foundation stone of the future pilot plant of the Technological Centre for Food Innovation (CeTA) was laid in the Technological Park Laguna Carén, at the University of Chile. Its building is a milestone for the Chilean food industry, because it will be ground-breaking in the development of healthy ingredients, processed food and packaging with a view to doubling this Chilean sector exports in 2025.
The Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Claudio Ternicier; the executive vice president of the CORFO (Production Development Corporation), Mr. Eduardo Bitrán; the rector of the University of Chile, Mr Ennio Vivaldi; the rector of the PUC (Pontificial Catholic University of Chile), Mr. Ignacio Sánchez; and the rector of the University of Talca, Mr. Álvaro Rojas, among other people, were present.
The plant will have a surface of more than 17,000 m2, and will have facilities to preserve the functionality of the ingredients, an area for the pre-treatment of raw materials, conventional and pressurised extraction, apart from cold storage areas, logistics and headquarters.
The initiative, supported and financed by the CORFO through the programme for the strengthening of the technological capabilities regarding food, is a part of the roadmap of the Strategic Programme Transforma Alimentos (Transform Food).
The CeTA has six founding partners: the University of Chile, the Pontificial Catholic University of Chile, the University of La Frontera, the University of Talca, the Fraunhofer Chile Research Foundation and the Chile Foundation. These partners assemble 49% of the R&D groups in the country, that develop 50% of the R&D projects in Chile, hire 46% of the researchers and draft 52% of the publications in this field.
The Technological Centre for Food Innovation is one of the 20 strategic initiatives considered by the programme “Transforma Alimentos”, a collaboration web between several actors in the private and public sectors and the scientific community that expects to place Chile among the leading countries regarding the production of healthy food for the world.
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017/ MINAGRI/ Chile.
https://www.minagri.gob.cl