Cornell AgriTech creates entrepreneur-focused food innovation lab

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Cornell AgriTech creates entrepreneur-focused food innovation lab

17 Aug 2023

Mari Rydings

Mari Rydings is a versatile content creator, editor and marketer with experience developing dynamic, results-driven materials for B2B and B2C audiences. As the editorial director for Avant Food Media, she leads the day-to-day editorial operations for the company’s print and digital magazines, newsletters and social media platforms. Outside of work, she loves reading, hiking, putting together jigsaw puzzles and spending time with her husband and their twin daughters.

ITHACA, NY — Cornell AgriTech, part of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has opened a new research and test kitchen for food entrepreneurs. The Food Innovation Lab (FIL) is a collaboration between the New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture and the Cornell Food Venture Center (CFVC).

The test kitchen complements the CFVC Pilot Plant, a 10,000-sq.-ft. processing facility focused on product development and scaling up new food products.

According to Olga Padilla-Zakour, PhD, interim director of Cornell AgriTech and director of the CFVC, the goal of the FIL is to provide food entrepreneurs with a space to fine tune ideas, processes and formulations before scaling up to the Pilot Plant. Both facilities are New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets-inspected facilities.

“Working closely with entrepreneurs at an early stage can really let us make a big impact,” Padilla-Zakour said. “Having the FIL, along with the Pilot Plant, allows entrepreneurs to really see what the possibilities are before they make the jump.”

The FIL features a comprehensive offering of commercial appliances and equipment, along with analytical equipment, such as benchtop scales, a digital refractometer, a convection incubator, microscopes, a centrifuge, and other tools that allows entrepreneurs to test food products for pH, water activity, degrees Brix, and other food safety tests.

“This is a place where food entrepreneurs can begin to understand the scientific parameters around the food they make,” said Roger Morse, who manages the CFVC Pilot Plant and the FIL. “It’s a perfect example of food quality and food science coming together.”

Cornell AgriTech helps generate growth and innovation in the food and agriculture systems in New York state and beyond. The FIL is adjacent to the CFVC Pilot Plant inside the Food Research Laboratory at Cornell AgriTech, which is also home to the Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture, a business incubator and economic development center that connects New York food, beverage and agriculture businesses with world-class Cornell experts and other resources businesses and entrepreneurs need to succeed.

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