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News from IFP North America
New York, Inc.
Contact: Herb Fiss, President, (941) 685-2450, or
Peter Gregg, Spokesman, (518) 692-8001
Contact: New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, Linda
McCandless Spokesperson, 315-787-2417
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, November 4, 2002
CORNELL TO DEVELOP NFC APPLE JUICE FOR LEROY PROJECT
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- IFP North America New York, Inc. (IFPNANY) President Herbert "Herb" W. Fiss today announced that Cornell University has agreed to develop a 100 percent NFC (not-from-concentrate) fresh apple juice to be processed at a proposed new IFPNANY juice plant in LeRoy, N.Y.
Cornell food scientists will develop NFC fresh apple juice, an exciting premium beverage that will serve as the signature product for the new plant once it comes on line. The research will be conducted at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva and is expected to be completed by January.
NFC apple juice is made by pressing apples for juice and then pasteurizing the product. The juice is filled and packaged into gable-top containers with spouts and sold in the refrigerated section of supermarkets.
"We're excited to have the world's most eminent food scientists working on our behalf to develop this revolutionary new product," Fiss said. "The success of a New York NFC premium apple juice is expected to parallel the success the Florida citrus industry has enjoyed with its NFC orange juice."
"We are very excited to provide the technical expertise and innovation that will support the success of this project," said Olga Padilla-Zakour, a Cornell professor and director of the NYS Food Venture Center at the Geneva Experiment Station.
"New York has the most flavorful apples and we will use our knowledge and expertise to develop a safe process that will retain that great flavor in a premium refrigerated apple juice. This is a critical project that will benefit New York apple growers and will also create economic development in Western NY," she said.
IFPNANY aims to open a state-of-the-art fruit processing plant in LeRoy, N.Y. that would create 300 new jobs and take in more than 3 million bushels of local apples every year. The plant would use patented technology that would make it a one-of-a kind facility in the U.S.
Pittsford Capital Group of Pittsford,
N.Y. is serving as the investment bankers for IFPNANY, working to raise the
$35 million needed to open the plant.
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