The Allen Economic Development Group introduced Hydrofresh HPPÂ to Delphos, on Monday morning.
The $10 million investment is a pasteurization plant that uses high-pressure processing. Typical methods use heat before packing food to eliminate micro bacteria. This process uses a cold pasteurization technique. The food, already in it’s final packaging, is placed in a container, filled up with water and subjected to pressure up to 87,000 PSI.Â
The thought behind this process is that it significantly reduces the chance of salmonella, e coli and listeria, among other bacteria borne illnesses. It also increases the shelf life of the products. All of this occurs while maintaining the appearance and nutrients of the food products. Some products that use HPP are meats, vegetables and juices.
The new business is an affiliate of Keller Logistics Group, who helped purchase an existing building at 1571 Gressel Dr. across from Lakeview Farms. President of Hydrofresh HPP Don Klausing said Delphos had a vacant facility in place that meets all the company's needs.
"Delphos had a perfect facility, really, for this process," said Klausing. "We need cold storage. We need refrigerated temperatures, this building had those refrigerated temperatures. Just basically took a little bit of work to get the building ready. The machinery should be coming in, in mid march."
Initially, the company will employ around ten people with one machine running one shift. As the company grows, Klausing hopes to employ around 55 people with multiple machines, in three years. Mayor of Delphos Josh Gillespie sees nothing but positives.
"Well it’s going to bring, obviously, some jobs and some different manufacturing capabilities that are unique to this area," Gillespie said. "It’s going to put Delphos, I think, on the map. And hopefully lead to some other industries being able to look at Delphos and consider us a home."
Construction has already begun on the inside of this building. Production is scheduled to begin by the end of April this year.Â
