ARCTIC À LA CARTE

Two Norwegian students crossed Greenland on skis last year, and used one of the products from the company Dtech AS’s in their canteens. They added water to minced beef that had been browned and then dried before they set off on their journey.

This tailor-made food was prepared in a drying plant for which three researchers at SINTEF and NTNU had the idea in 1989. Now, the trio’s technology is in the process of making its commercial world premiere.

The Norwegian company Dtech AS – a spin-off of SINTEF and NTNU – is now in the process of building a large factory in Hungary. The new plant will supply the international food industry with dried maize and dried peas – ingredients which will end up in dried soups and powdered casserole dishes all over the world. In terms of the taste, aroma and colour of the end-products, the new technology approaches the quality of vacuum freeze-drying – the Rolls Royce of dehydration technology. But the new technology is much less expensive.