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Food Processing and Development Laboratory (FPDL)

The goal of the Cornell University Food Processing and Development Laboratory (FPDL) is to create a professional environment in which teaching, research and extension activities can be conducted in support of the mission of the Institute of Food Science and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences program at Cornell. As such, FPDL priorities are as follows:

  • Teaching: Provide hands-on learning experiences for students enrolled in Food Science and related curricula.
  • Research: Provide a state-of-the-art facility and technical assistance for conducting food and dairy-related research and development using Cornell’s pilot plant facilities.
    • Assist in the transfer of new technology from the research program to the industry.
    • Provide facilities and staff support on a fee-for-use basis to assist companies and individuals with production and testing of product formulations provided by the client.
  • Extension: Provide facilities for use in applied extension research and continuing education programs.

The facility has experienced full-time staff professionals who are able to assist in all aspects of food product development and processing. Companies/individuals can visit our facilities and work collaboratively with personnel, or the staff of the FPDL can process products to your specifications and ship it to you overnight. Customized small product development runs can be conducted with our established access to ingredients and raw materials.

The 10,000-square-foot main processing area is adjacent to our fully licensed operating dairy plant. It houses a NYS permitted, small-scale HTST system capable of continuous pasteurization of batches as small as 100 gallons and multiple permitted cheese vats (with associated cheddar milling equipment, cheese press, etc.). This combination allows for scaling up of production in order to provide a variety of products for customer demonstrations, food shows and exhibitions.

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