Pinnacle Foods has opened new R&D pilot plant at Rutgers University, as part of its strategy to revamp its iconic brands.
The pilot plant at Rutgers Food Innovation Center - North is the first university-affiliated pilot site for Pinnacle, and is designed for Pinnacle's Duncan Hines Grocery Division, which includes brands such as Duncan Hines, Vlasic, Wish-Bone, Mrs. Butterworth's and Log Cabin.
In addition, the facility will enable the company to boost its R&D capabilities, scale up learnings for commercialization, support brand renovation and productivity as well as improve speed to market.
Pinnacle R&D SVP Steve Gunther said that the company has been on a continuous mission to strengthen its R&D capabilities, and the pilot plant is one more step in increasing the technical rigor.
"We'll be able to execute experimental designs across our brands, studying various ingredient, process and package interactions without impacting our manufacturing facilities," Gunther added.
The USDA and FDA-inspected facility will enable Pinnacle to replicate the existing production processes at its Grocery Division plants and conduct consumer testing.
