Kearny, NJ, Oct. 12, 2006 – Avoca, Inc., one of the largest botanical extraction facilities in N. America, announced today it has added a major new manufacturing capability with the opening of a 105,000 sq. ft. dairy ingredient and natural product processing facility in Menomonee Falls, WI.
Avoca BioProcessing Corporation is a modern, full-function plant specializing in enzyme, fermentation and extraction services. Facilities are inspected annually by the American Institute of Baking International (AIB) and meet GMP standards for the food and dairy industries.
“This world-class facility can provide customers an excellent extension to their internal manufacturing capabilities as well as offering an opportunity to commercialize unique new processes for the food and related industries,” said David Peale, president, Avoca, Inc.
The dairy ingredients operation of Avoca BioProcessing, includes a manufacturing capacity of approximately 10 million pounds per year of dairy-based ingredients, including enzymatically and thermally modified cheese, milk, cream, butterfat and other dairy fractions.
Capabilities include heavy-duty blending, high-sheer dispersion of raw materials, enzymatic treatment, homogenization, batch pasteurization and thermal processing. The operation is suitable for producing ingredients for use in bakery, confectionary, snack foods, seasonings, salad dressings and food service applications.
The core of the fermentation and natural products extraction portion of the facility includes aerobic fermentation suites ranging in size from 300 gallons to 6,500 gallons capacity. The production system includes advanced fermentation and recovery monitoring and controls, including a variety of in-process analytical services.
The operation is equipped with several recovery options depending on the product of interest, including a continuous flow counter current extractor/decanter centrifuge. In addition to processing fermentation broth, the recovery suites are suitable for extracting and purifying other natural products, including probiotic cultures and other biomass related materials; extracts, as well as a number of highly purified natural flavor ingredients such as alcohols, lactones, organic acids, ketones, aldehydes and a variety of natural esters.
Avoca, Inc., and Avoca BioProcessing Corporation are subsidiaries of Pharmachem Laboratories, Inc., Kearny, NJ. Pharmachem Laboratories Inc. is a global leader in application-specific processing of healthy ingredients including custom extraction, fractionation, fermentation, drying, liquid-to-powder conversion, granulation, agglomeration, blending, nutrient fortification and ready-to-drink powders.