Bühler advances food safety with NapaRoast’s pasteurization, roasting technology

SWITZERLAND – Bühler Group, a Swiss technology partner for the food, feed, and mobility industries, has adopted NapaRoast’s pasteurization and roasting technology in the nuts processing industry, aiming to drive healthy snacking, regulatory compliance, and sustainable practices. 

By utilizing saturated steam, the innovative technology enables effective treatment at lower temperatures in a partial vacuum. The result is high efficiency, without requiring a drying step, which helps preserve the product’s quality, texture, color, and flavor.

With the addition of NapaRoast’s steam vacuum pasteurization technology to its portfolio, Bühler strengthens its market position in the nuts processing industry, reinforcing its commitment to innovation and quality.

“The integration of NapaRoast puts us in the unique position to be a one-stop shop for our customers. The best-in-class pasteurization process guarantees food safety and traceability, and, in combination with our proven technologies for nuts processing, added efficiency,’’ says Cathrin Flühler, Head of Market Segment Nuts at Bühler.

While the company already covered the most important steps in their portfolio, such as transport, sorting, storage, roasting, and grinding, they had to rely on supplier pasteurization solutions.

This made the search for a robust, in-house pasteurization solution a top priority.

Why the NapaRoast pasteurization technology

With the growing global nut market, at an annual rate of up to 7%, the popularity and reputation of tree nuts and ground nuts as healthy snacks due to their high levels of protein, fiber, and antioxidants is gaining traction.

This increased demand has further led to a growing focus on food safety. 

NapaRoast’s steam-vacuum pasteurization offers highly promising solutions for meeting the stringent microbial contamination requirements that processors are facing today. 

“Our pasteurization process offers a high pathogen reduction of >5 log in nuts, seeds, and all low-moisture foods. During our process, steam is used to raise the surface temperature of the product to kill pathogens effectively,” explains Dr. Cameon Ivarsson, Co-Founder of NapaRoast.

The NapaRoast pasteurization technology is installed in over 40 processing plants around the world, mainly in the United States, Europe, and Africa. 

Because of the unique design of the process where the product is treated in bulk bins, there is no breakage, dust, and waste, and down time for product changeover is minimized. 

Its flexibility allows for the processing of whole pieces, chopped ingredients or powders as well. And along with proven results, it makes it an ideal fit for Bühler’s global ambitions.

Collaborative innovation and the future of nut processing

Cathrin Flühler describes the collaboration as a perfect match between two companies with the same values, such as quality, ingenuity, and creating value for customers and consumers.

Therefore, to demonstrate its position in nuts processing and to give customers the unique opportunity to test and train along the value chain, Bühler has upgraded its Flavor Creation Research and Training Center in Uzwil, Switzerland. 

“Of course, the pasteurization step is integrated into our state-of-the-art facility for our customers to get first-hand experience of the technology. We are excited to open our center in August this year for trials and to invite them to the first exclusive training session on November 4 and 5,” says Cathrin Flühler.

Bühler looks forward to sharing the benefits of this technology and serving the NapaRoast customer base – not just for nuts, but for many of the food processing solutions Bühler offers as well.

“With Bühler, there is a huge opportunity to multiply the impact of our pasteurization technologies across the globe. Their large customer base, paired with decades of experience in plant and process engineering, will get the most out of the technology. We could not be more excited about the future for nuts processing,” Cameon Ivarsson added.

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