Samples of new fruit juices that won prizes at the recent Beverage Innovation Awards in Germany.

CSIRO drinks to world’s best new juice

Reference: 09/163

Innovative Australian fruit juices developed with CSIRO have won at the prestigious Beverage Innovation Awards in Germany overnight.

• 16 September 2009

Preshafood Ltd, formerly Donny Boy Fresh Food Company, has taken out first prize in the "Best new juice or juice drink" category plus the overall prize of “Best new concept” across all 24 categories. They were also a finalist in the "Best newcomer brand or business" category.

Innovative technology developed these juices: high pressure processing (HPP). HPP uses pressures of about 6000 times the average air pressure at sea level to pasteurise food products.

“The unique benefits of HPP are that it kills microbes such as yeasts, moulds and bacteria, and extends the shelf-life of chilled perishable products without adversely affecting the food’s freshness, flavour, colour, texture and nutritional value,” says CSIRO Business Development Manager, Lloyd Simons.

“Normally processors would have to use preservatives or heat the product and this inevitably changes the taste and destroys some nutrients.

“It is exciting and rewarding to see our extensive research effort result in products on supermarket shelves nationally.”

Preshafood’s Managing Director, Andrew Gibb, says CSIRO’s involvement was essential to his company’s start-up.

“Our company began life at CSIRO. We undertook all trials and first commercial production of our Preshafruit juices and fruits in their food processing facility,” Mr Gibb says. “We are proud of our relationship with them and pleased to have Dr Lyndon Kurth of CSIRO alongside us here in Munich.”

The Beverage Innovation Awards is the world’s premier event showcasing global innovations in non-alcoholic drinks technology and was held this year on 15 September in Munich .

The juices Preshafood Ltd manufacture, Preshafruit juices, won from over 340 entries from 40 countries, beating products from all major beverage companies.

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