Michigan State University (MSU) opened this week its new Food Processing and Innovation Center (FPIC), an incubator designed to help food businesses and startups develop and release products.
Clients can rent the facility, then use it to produce, process and package their products for about $3,000 per day. The goal of the center is to help save businesses money while giving them a space to create and test their products before taking them to market.
“Instead of spending several hundred thousand dollars, you may only have to spend $20,000 – and you may even make some back because you can sell what you make here, since the facility is certified by both federal and state agencies that deal with food safety,” Bruce Harte, former director of MSU’s School of Packaging and one of the facility’s developers, said.
The FPIC will operate with confidentiality as a mainstay and will likely only have one client at a time. Those clients are also only allowed to use it for a maximum of three weeks. The facility will supply equipment and the packaging and will also work with clients to help them understand what will be needed for the development of their products.
Source: The Peninsula – MSU opens accelerator center for food development, commercial distribution
