The client

Northern Foods, one of the UK's leading food producers

The challenge

Northern Foods were looking for a way of extending the storage life of diced potatoes.

What we did

They consulted the research team from the Centre for Food Innovation, as part of a project which brought together staff from throughout Sheffield Hallam, working in partnership with key stakeholders from Defra, Yorkshire Forward, the Food Technology Advisory Service and Business Link.

Researchers were asked to develop a method of storing peeled and diced potatoes that would extend their storage life to at least 24 hours.

The results

Two alternative approaches were investigated - vacuum packing and nitrogen gas flushing - and both produced the desired results and more. Both approaches not only extended the potatoes' storage time to up to 72 hours, but also demonstrated the potential for cost savings for the company. As a result, Northern Foods are currently involved in full scale trials to test the new methods.