Stay Fresh Foods, a Meriden, Conn.-based high-pressure processing (HPP) toller, opened its second HPP tolling center in Pennsauken, N.J., near Center City, Pa.

The center is located less than 200 miles away from the first Stay Fresh Center in Meriden, Conn., and is strategically positioned with easy access to the New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. markets.

“We’re excited to report that the 66,000-square-foot facility will provide the full suites of services [that] our customers now expect of us, and be equipped with the industry’s most advanced HPP system, the Avure AV-60, already field-proven to deliver the highest HPP output available,” says Amy Lawless, managing director at Stay Fresh Foods. “The AV-60 innovative design boasts Avure Generation 4 features such as new intensifiers, easier to maintain parts and larger diameter vessel to accommodate larger, bulky or odd-shaped packages. The AV-60 will complement what we already make available through our AV-30 systems located in Meriden.”

The combined HPP capacity now available through Stay Fresh Foods will reach up to 150 million pounds per year. 

“This type of capacity will be instrumental when it comes to enabling more manufacturers in the northeast to adopt HPP,” says Patrick Ditchfield, vice president of sales and service at Avure Technologies, Erlanger, Ky.

The common theme among these manufacturers is their need to provide the marketplace with highly valued, highly nutritious foods that meet the clean label, food safety and refrigerated shelf-life requirementsof today’s retailers and foodservice chains. 

By working through Stay Fresh and the Avure applications team, these companies can use HPP to meet and exceed customer demands while growing, or in some cases establishing, their business.

In addition to adding a new HPP center, Stay Fresh Foods formalized a strategic alliance with family owned, private label co-manufacturer, Ragozzino Foods, Meriden, Conn. 

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with Stay Fresh and its technology partner Avure,” says Nancy Ragozzino, president at Ragozzino Foods. “This partnership not only allows Stay Fresh to more comprehensively service their customer base, but also opens up the opportunity for some of the current and future Ragozzino Foods’ customers to leverage the benefits of HPP.”

“Some of our newest customers, who wish to be food marketers rather than manufacturers, ask us about the possibility of having their products produced by a geographically-suitable outside company before it arrives at our locations for the HPP and related upstream services. Our exclusive partnership with Ragozzino Foods facilitates us being able to meet those customer needs,” adds Lawless.

It is estimated that the Stay Fresh Pennsauken location will create at least 40 new jobs and is slated to open in May.