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Institute for Food Safety and Health

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Take a Tour of IFSH Facilities

IFSH Headquarters, Illinois Tech/Moffett Campus
6502 South Archer Road
Bedford Park, IL 60501-1957

The Institute for Food Safety and Health is located at Illinois Tech’s Moffett Campus in Bedford Park, Illinois. The physical resources of IFSH include offices, meeting rooms and classrooms, a library, several laboratories, and pilot plants.

The IFSH facility currently consists of two major buildings and three minor structures situated on 5.5 acres of land. The 50,000-sq. ft. main building contains offices, meeting room space, reception area/lobby, library, and several laboratories. A second, connected building contains IFSH’s three-story, 55,000  sq. ft. industrial scale pilot plant, as well as meeting rooms and office space. A smaller, 7,000 sq. ft. building, houses the Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory and biocontainment pilot plant. A hazardous waste building and a greenhouse also are located onsite.

Pilot Plant and Facilities Leasing

IFSH operates several food Pilot plants with varying scales of equipment. A GMP pilot plant with a kitchen suite and a smaller private project bay is suitable for most product development projects. They are supported by a dry storage room with a choice of two chilled walk-in coolers. An adjacent product cutting room with a kitchenette and private conference area is next to the GMP pilot plant. There is also an available food properties lab and in the high bay processing pilot plant there are several retorts and a 24 L High Pressure Processing (HPP) unit. Various UV light equipment and HTST pasteurizers are available for beverage processing. The facilities can be made available for private use through a lease agreement for an individual professional, small start-up, or large company seeking the means to reformulate a product or develop new prototypes. IFSH can also accommodate any number of process equipment types that the client may wish to bring into the center. Certain unit operations can be made available for rental for off-site work. Please contact the Manager, of Business Development and Communications, for information about leasing arrangements and IFSH Director of Facilities, for inquiries about pilot plant capabilities.

Overview of Facilities

This registered (licensed) FDA processing plant is capable of producing foods for sensory and nutritional studies. The facility includes a raw material storage area with a walk-in chiller, a kitchen/preparation and quality assurance testing area, and a high hygiene area, as well as a separate processing bay suitable for proprietary work. The pilot plant is now equipped with a wide array of typical food processing equipment including, vessels, kettles, mixers, pumps, homogenizers and packaging equipment. A 1S HTST processor has arrived and is being commissioned in the GMP Area. Due to a new contract with one of our member companies a wide range of useful food processing equipment (22 pieces) is now available to the NCFST and its member companies within the GMP area.

Food concept prototypes can be moved into actual product samples produced in our GMP kitchen suite and pilot plant. The facility is available under special pricing as a subscriber to the Food Innovation Research Exchange or as a full member of the IFSH collaborative community. The IFSH Food Science and Nutrition department has over 170 Food Science and Nutrition graduate students from international and domestic cultures available to provide a wide range of insights and innovative thinking for novel product prototyping assistance.

The Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) processing innovation laboratory offers a wide range of laboratory to semi-pilot plant scale services that allows researchers to conduct pathogen inactivation validation work. This area has been used to scale-up a microwave pasteurization of eggs project to semi-commercial scale.  Equipment and features include -

  • Set up to handle multiple projects in a semi-pilot plant setting
  • Capable of scale-up to semi-commercial scale for targeted projects
  • Well-equipped with cold plasma, pulsed UV light, pulsed electric field and microwave technologies

The Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) facility at IFSH is one of the first in the country specifically designed to study the behavior of pathogens and virulent organisms in real-world food processing conditions.  The laboratory and bio-containment pilot plant have been independently certified at BSL-3 level with a total of 7000 square feet for research and validation of pilot-plant scale food processing equipment.

Facility Highlights Include

  • Large BSL-3 laboratory for product analysis.
  • Approximately 1,500 sq. feet of pilot plant area with plug & run capability.
  • Certified for BSL-3 operation for use in validating processing methods with pathogens.
  • Capable of housing most pilot and  commercial equipment from produce washers to extruders.
  • Three phase power with water and steam sources in the containment area.
  • Full containment for handling large quantities of pathogens or processes that generate aerosols.
  • Ability to handle large volumes (up to 600 gallons or 100 lbs) of pathogenic organisms in produce.
  • Whole room decontamination system for disinfecting processing equipment and surfaces.
  • Effluent decontamination and disposal system for all liquid waste.

The molecular microbiology lab at IFSH supports research in ecology, stress response, and pathogenesis of bacterial pathogens that pose major threats to food safety and public health by using cutting-edge molecular biology and genomic approaches, which may help to track the transmission routes of specific bacterial genotypes in the food supply chain. Knowledge gained from these studies allows IFSH scientists to better understand how bacterial pathogens adapt to the food related environments and develop more effective control strategies to minimize food contamination and prevent foodborne illness. This lab also offers bioinformatics services for the food industry using whole genome sequencing (WGS) technology, which could provide a genomic view of the micro-organism’s identity and capabilities including its potential virulence and pathogenicity.

Two proficiency testing labs occupy nearly 1,200 sq. ft. of BSL-2 space and support the PT program at the Institute for Food Safety and Health, The PT program produces PT samples for both FDA and USDA food safety programs, manages the food chemistry and microbiology proficiency testing programs for the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN), and can be used for collaborative work with IFSH industry members. Equipment and features include -

  • Well-equipped molecular biology laboratory, for all-purpose DNA and protein experiments.
  • Newly reconfigured food microbiology/proficiency testing laboratory, for preparing and handling microbiology PT samples.
  • Able to inoculate virtually any food product, including powders, water and fresh produce samples, and target any level of inoculation, such as extremely low levels in order to test the limits of detection for specific methods
  • Dangerous goods shipment capabilities and certifications.
  • Program expansion plans include additional capabilities in preparing freeze dried proficiency testing samples and preparing the PT program for ISO 17043 accreditation.
  • Specialized equipment includes a number of cultural, immunoassay and molecular method microbial detection and identification instruments (conventional and automated real-time systems), biosafety hoods, autoclave, ultralow freezers for storing cultures and lysates, gel electrophoresis systems, robotic station, gel imaging and documentation system, hybridization ovens, and more.
     

Through partnerships with the FDA and our member companies the IFSH chemistry team continuously advance in the exploration of natural and intentional chemical contaminants.  Here we work to develop better techniques to meet the challenges of the food industry as well as expand the knowledge bases of these contaminants in the food supply.  We have developed expertise in the analysis of an array of food contaminants including mycotoxins, pesticides, heavy metals, and melamine derivatives.

This 1,000 sq. ft. applied chemistry lab supports research in nutrition and chemical contaminants, including investigations into the properties of food matrices related to the content and profile of antioxidant compounds and their effect on human health, as well as food safety related contaminant issues, such as acrylamide, melamine, pesticides and mycotoxins in food that may help improve food processing mitigation strategies. IFSH member Agilent Technologies is a collaborative partner in the renovation and has outfitted the lab with several pieces of equipment.

Facility Highlights Include

  • Four large bench areas with three new and modern hoods for additional chemical and extraction processing
  • Agilent rapid resolution liquid chromatograph (RRLC) with 6460 triple quadrupole (QQQ) mass spectrometer (MS); Agilent 1100 HPLC with 6500 time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS); two Agilent 1100 HPLCs with diode array and fluorescence detection; Agilent 7890 GC with 5975 single quadrupole MS; and Agilent 7890 GC with 7000 triple quadrupole MS, for pesticide, mycotoxin, drug residue and phenolic antioxidant research. 
  • Agilent 7000 inductive coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS), 7696A sample prep workbench and bioanalyzer, for analysis of heavy metals and other elements, fatty acid profiling and species identification of fish.
  • Varian ICP with optical emission (OE) spectrometer, for nanotechnology research
  • Shimadzu GC-MS with CTC headspace autosampler, for use in proficiency testing and FERN initiatives
     

The Illinois Tech Chemistry team in partnership with the FDA and our member companies applies advanced analytical technologies to address real world food safety and nutrition challenges through a disciplined scientific approach.  Our goal is to innovate through insight and is accomplished in an academic environment where students learn to address food safety and nutrition challenges of the future as applied to analytical chemistry.

This chemistry laboratory has state-of-the-art equipment such as UV, Fluorescence, GC, GC-MS, HPLC, HPLC-MS/MS, ELISA, electrophoresis and DSC. In addition, through the Illinois Institute of Technology, lab technicians have access to circular diachronic and X-ray crystallography for protein structure determination. This equipment is also used to support nutrition research projects and the chemistry group has extensive capability and expertise in analytical assessment of nutritional compounds, including vitamin C, vitamin A and the carotenoids, vitamin E and the B vitamins.

The Clinical Nutrition Research Center, constructed in the Illinois Tech Research Tower on Illinois Tech’s main campus in Chicago, is a 5,000 sq. ft. facility designed and dedicated for the purpose of conducting outpatient clinical research studies.

Facility Highlights Include

  • On-site subject/patient screening and training
  • Metabolic kitchen for test food preparation and distribution
  • Two food intake suites for communal dining and or individual dining and larger refrigerators for food storage
  • Multiple private examination and consultation rooms, and stations adapted for phlebotomy use or catheter implantation and management
  • Dedicated rooms equipped for vitals assessment, flow-mediated dilation assessment (GE-LOGi-Q, ultrasound equipment with a special ultrasound bed), anthropometrics, food intake and appetite evaluation, among others
  • Separate laboratory space equipped for specimen processing, storage and fresh sample analysis
  • Biological freezers, refrigerators, centrifuges (clinical, superspeed, micro-ultracentrifuge), biological safety hood, platelet function analyzer, portable glucose, hemoglobulin and lipid analyzers
  • Randox Daytona fully automated clinical analyzer, capable of running 180 different clinical chemistry tests and 270 tests per hour
  • Licensed with specialized computer programs for food intake analysis (ESHA nutrient data base) and statistical analysis
     

A 700 sq. ft. nutrition and biochemistry laboratory is well-equipped to conduct rapid clinical chemistry and nutrition tests. Equipment includes centrifuges (clinical, super-speed, micro-ultracentrifuge), spectrophotometers (UV and fluorescence) gel electrophoresis, a high-performance fluorescence and chemiluminescence image capturing device, and a fully automated-clinical analyzer. The laboratory also contains a designated section for cell culture work, which includes an environment-controlled CO2 incubator for cell growth maintenance and liquid nitrogen cryopreservation system. Other departmental equipment is available to this lab, including cold rooms, additional microscopes, histology equipment, cell culture room with incubators, PCR, a full complement of molecular biology equipment, and dark room with photography equipment.

The novel food processing technologies bay has a 24-L Avure high pressure processing unit which can reach pressures up to 813 MPa and temperatures up to 131 °C. Multiple Ultraviolet light units (annular tube, coiled tube, thin film laminar reactor, cidersure reactor) are also available. Several pulsed light systems (1.8 Hz, 3 Hz, 100 Hz systems, and a handheld pulsed light unit) are also available in the novel food processing technologies laboratories. Two cold plasma units (a conveyor belt system and a fluidized bed reactor) are available for microbial inactivation studies. Multiple high power ultrasound applicators are also available in the laboratory. Moreover, COMSOL Multiphysics 4.1 software is also available for modeling and simulation.

A TDT (Thermal Death Time apparatus) with five retorts is available for thermal inactivation kinetics studies (D and z value calculations). In addition, the pilot plant area has multiple retorts (rotary retort, Shaka process, water immersion). In addition, a HTST pasteurization system is available in the novel food processing technologies bay. Multiple refrigerators, blast chillers, freezers are available for evaluating the cooling efficacy of various foods. Moreover, COMSOL Multiphysics 4.1 software is also available for modeling and simulation.

A new fully self-contained processing bay for high pressure processing (HPP) research is located within the main pilot plant. New HPP-based research into pressure enhanced sterilization (PES) technologies, such as pressure assisted thermal sterilization (PATS), is conducted in this area using state-of-the-art equipment from Avure Technologies. The processing bay has been added to the select agent license, allowing critical biological validation of this proven food safety technology.

This fully equipped chemistry laboratory is used for protein digestion and allergenicity studies.

The high-throughput or next-generation sequencing (HTS/NGS) has revolutionized many scientific fields from environmental to human health sciences. The adoption and increased use of the HTS technology and its many applications by the regulatory and health agencies in the US and around the world has begun an inevitable transitional period in our food safety regimes from the old means to the new ones. With unprecedented resolution, the HTS methods and technology enable the researchers and safety personnel in the food industry to examine the foods in their life cycle from production to consumption, and the environments where they circulate with unparalleled power to ensure the best safety measures. For more information click here.

Services

Work Alongside Leading Fda and Illinois Tech Scientists

We hold a Cooperative Research and Development Grant from the FDA to conduct research within the NCFST in five key platform areas: food processing and packaging, food microbiology, chemical contaminants and allergens, nutrition, and proficiency testing. With Industry, FDA, and Illinois Tech scientists working together, we publish an Annual Review of Research to members available on our member website. Project teams work throughout the year. Formal member meetings are as follows:

  • Annual review meeting held each September with FDA and other science leaders
  • Mid-year meeting held in early Spring to hold taskforces and forums on collaborative projects and emerging hot topics
  • Technical Advisory Committee meeting in late Spring for collaborative project ranking
  • Sessions on timely food science issues as needed

Product Ideation

IFSH has tools available to support new product design concepts from white space discovery to framing a consumer issue to identifying a path for revisioning existing brands. Our partnership with the Illinois Tech Institute of Design and our local and national industry network makes this possible. The Food Innovation Research Exchange provides an entry point into this network for individual professionals, consultants, small and medium companies.

Food concept prototypes can be moved into actual product samples produced in our GMP kitchen suite and pilot plant. The facility is available under special pricing as a subscriber to the Food Innovation Research Exchange or as a full member of the IFSH collaborative community. The IFSH Food Science and Nutrition department has over 170 Food Science and Nutrition graduate students from international and domestic cultures available to provide a wide range of insights and innovative thinking for novel product prototyping assistance.

Through a partnership with the Illinois Tech Design Institute a broad range of design thinking tools are available to drive the white space discovery process for food companies seeking to revitalize a food product line or to identify consumers unspoken needs for a yet to be imagined food concept. The robust demographics of the local Chicago food consumer can be tapped to validate this discovery. Couple this with a local network of chefs skilled in the culinary arts and new horizons can be charted.

IL Tech Institute of Design Tool Box

Process Technology (Core Capability)

The Institute of Food Safety and Health focuses on multiple thermal processes (traditional thermal processes such as dry heating, baking, etc. and advanced thermal processes such as microwave heating). Our staff are interested in understanding the thermal inactivation kinetics of pathogenic microorganisms, spoilage microorganisms, and enzymes. We also do significant amount of modeling and simulation related to thermal processes.

Key Staff Members and Contact Information

Kathiravan Krishnamurthy, Ph.D.
Engineer, Assistant Professor, Illinois Tech
708.563.8272
kkrishn2@iit.edu

HPP Product Innovation

Unlike traditional processing technologies that may significantly reduce the nutritional value of foods, HPP holds the promise of delivering premium quality food products that are both safe and nutritious.

HPP Consortiums

The current high pressure consortium builds on the successful FDA filing and the IFT award-winning Pressure Assisted Thermal Sterilization (PATS) technology derived from the initial HPP consortium. The consortium offers food and packaging companies a ground-floor opportunity for launching differentiated and value-added products.

HPP Commercialization

The validation of shelf stable, low-acid foods can often be expensive and time consuming. The Center for Processing Innovation has considerable expertise with validating HPP technology, and can help with making HPP more commercially viable. HPP is particularly relevant given that many food products are not sterile and require refrigeration for a suitable shelf life. HPP used in combination with refrigerated storage offers products with an extended shelf life.

HPP Applications

HPP enables new products such as

  • High Quality Fruits, Vegetables
  • Deli Meats
  • Extended Shelf-Life ESL Foods
  • RTE Teas, Coffees, and Smoothies
  • Soups, Pot Roasts, and Stews
  • Cheese and cream Sauces
  • Liquid Flavors and Herbs
  • Low Acid Pasta Sauces

Key Staff Members and Contact Information

Alvin Lee, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Processing Innovation, Associate Professor, Illinois Tech
708.563.8277
alee33@iit.edu

Jason Wan, Ph.D.
Associate Director, IFSH, Illinois Tech
708.563.8287
jwan1@iit.edu

Kathiravan Krishnamurthy, Ph.D.
Engineer, Assistant Professor, Illinois Tech
708.563.8272
kkrishn2@iit.edu

The Institute for Food Safety and Health has almost two decades of experience working with microwave processing. Multiple microwave applicators equipped with precise temperature monitoring and control are available for studies. In addition to the experimental approach, we do lot of modeling and simulation to better understand the microwave processing.

Key Staff Members and Contact Information

Kathiravan Krishnamurthy, Ph.D.
Engineer, Assistant Professor, Illinois Tech
708.563.8272
kkrishn2@iit.edu

The Institute for Food Safety and Health conducts state of the art research work on pulsed (ultraviolet) light processing with the strong collaboration from the Xenon Corporation Inc. and member companies. We have multiple pulsed light systems (1.8 Hz, 3 Hz, 100 Hz systems, and a handheld pulsed light unit) to effectively inactivate microorganisms. We are successful in using the pulsed light technology for inactivation of vegetative cells, spores, virus, on myriad food products.

Key Staff Members and Contact Information

Kathiravan Krishnamurthy, Ph.D.
Engineer, Assistant Professor, Illinois Tech
708.563.8272
kkrishn2@iit.edu

The Institute for Food Safety and Health has significant expertise in high power ultrasound applications. Multiple high power ultrasound applicators are available for pathogen inactivation and other studies. The institute has unique capability of using high power ultrasound in conjunction with several sanitizers for increased efficacy.

Key Staff Members and Contact Information

Alvin Lee, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Processing Innovation, Associate Professor, Illinois Tech
708.563.8277
alee33@iit.edu

Kathiravan Krishnamurthy, Ph.D.
Engineer, Assistant Professor, Illinois Tech
708.563.8272
kkrishn2@iit.edu

The Institute for Food Safety and Health and Food and Drug Administration has two state-of-the-art cold plasma systems. These systems can effectively inactivate microorganisms from the surfaces of various food products within a short period of time. Cold plasma had been particularly effective for inactivation of microorganisms in low moisture foods. A fluidized bed reactor and a conveyor belt aids in continuous treatment of foods.

Key Staff Members and Contact Information

Kathiravan Krishnamurthy, Ph.D.
Engineer, Assistant Professor, Illinois Tech
708.563.8272
kkrishn2@iit.edu

Allergens are a growing concern for both consumers as well as food manufactures as the prevalence of food allergies rises in the population.  Biotechnology and the application of immunological based assays has helped to elucidate the challenges of producing allergen-free products.  However, the reliability of the data from these techniques is sometimes confounded by the matrix and/or the process through which the allergen passes.  Moreover, these typically target only one allergen at a time.  Consequently, the chemistry team at IFSH in collaboration with its members and the FDA has been working to develop mass spectral-based multiplexed assay as an alternate method of detecting allergens in complex food matrices.

Key Staff Members and Contact Information

Lauren Jackson, Ph.D.
Chief, Process Engineering Branch, Division of Food Processing Science & Technology, FDA
708.924.0616
lauren.jackson@fda.hhs.gov

Capabilities

  • Microbiology
  • Spores & Toxins
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Allergens
  • Virology
  • Food Defense Select Agents
  • Nanotechnology
  • BSL-2 Laboratories
  • BSL-3 Pilot Plant & Laboratories
  • GMP Registered Pilot Plant
  • Technology & Packaging Evaluation
  • Low Moisture Foods
  • Clinical Endpoints
  • Biomarkers
  • Nutrient Properties
  • Pre-Clinical Screening
  • Clinical Trials
  • Medical Collaboration
  • Claims Validation
  • Sensory Evaluation
  • Good Manufacturing Practices
  • Proficiency Testing

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