Food treatment process based on high voltage nanopulsed electric discharges in liquid phase
The project intends to explore the feasibility of introducing to the market a small milk steriliser unit based on a patent pending
device developing high voltage (>100kV) nanopulsed electric discharge in liquids, to be used mainly by farmers selling
directly their fresh dairy products through vending machines.
Wider objective met by EMILK: increased nutritious food production opportunities in Europe and in developing Countries.
EMILK has the potential to develop into a viable sterilisation solution suitable for use in areas without infrastructure to
support the refrigerated collection of food.
The European organic market is growing by approximately six percent (24 billion euros in 2013). In this scenario direct sales
(e.g. from farmer to customer) weigh about 5% and it is continuously increasing since «zero km» food is perceived as higher
value by final customer. The milk market is particularly interesting since raw milk is paid by industry to farmers at a very low
price (0.32€/l for best quality organic milk) while final customer is often willing to pay up to 2€/l for the same product. Raw
milk sterilising solutions that keep intact nutrients and organoleptic qualities, while ensuring the standards of hygiene and
safety are required to enable more Europeans to enjoy raw milk.
The feasibility study intends to check the attractiveness of the innovation to the market, define the opportunities both for the
integration of the device in milk vending machines and for further developments, through identification of partners in the dairy
industry supply chain; fine tune the business plan already drafted in this application and applying for further funding (SME
instrument Phase2, local regional funding, private investments).