Product Development (R & D)

The Product Development Team of JCS Inc works closely with our clients to develop new and improved food products for target markets such as retail, institutional or food service. JCS Team can either work independently to meet product requirements set by the client, or they can work as a part of clients’ in-house R&D Team in an advisory capacity.

Some of our multinational clients retain our services to get a different perspective on an in-house generated product development concept, while others realize that it may be more cost effective to have JCS R&D Team carry out the prototype generation stage.

Our R&D staff, led by a PHD in food science, has over 50 years of combined experience in dairy and food product development. The JCS Inc R&D Team works under strict confidentiality guidelines to meet clients’ compositional, nutritional, and budgetary expectations in a timely fashion. Our R&D Team can

• Conduct literature search to gather current research and technical data pertaining to the product under development.
• Develop brand new food products or work on variations to existing product lines to extend the SKU range.
• Explore opportunities for developing value-added products.
• Source and evaluate ingredients.
• Develop prototypes and compare to competitive products, if applicable.
• Generate database-based nutritional information for prototypes to better understand product placement in marketplace.
• Provide know-how on scale-up from bench-top to pilot scale and to full-scale production.
• Provide feedback on compliance with Federal and State (or Provincial) regulations pertaining to dairy and food products and manufacturing processes.
• Provide advise on packaging and storage of the finished product .

To accomplish these tasks, JCS Inc R&D Team possesses necessary expertise in the following areas:

Prototype Development

Product & Process Development

Technical assessment of Client-generated concepts

Experimental design and execution

Statistical analysis

Over the years, JCS Inc R&D Team has worked on a variety of products, and created manufacturing solutions using a combination of large number of processes. Some of the products are:

• Refrigerated and Shelf-stable Dairy and Juice Products
• Soy Beverages
• Cultured Dairy Products
• Egg Products
• High-acid and Low-Acid beverages
• Tomato-based products
• Fresh Dough
• Frozen Deserts
• Emulsions

The processes utilized to deliver above products include

• Batching and Blending
• Pasteurization
• Ultra-High Temperature Pasteurization/Aseptic Processing
• Membrane Processing
• Spray Drying
• Freezing
• Packaging

In addition to in-house capabilities, JCS Inc R&D Team also has access to additional experts and research facilities across North America. In most cases, JCS R&D Team carries out actual prototype development stage at one of the external R&D facilities that is suitably equipped to process the product under study. Once the client is satisfied with the approach taken by JCS Inc, prototypes can be manufactured either at one of the external facilities or at clients’ facility to produce samples for in-house sensory evaluation or for focus group studies. From start to finish, JCS R&D Team follows the corporate Project Management Guidelines to ensure that both the client and internal customers are all kept informed of the progress made, and that the project is carried out according to the project timelines agreed upon. Upon completion of the project, JCS R&D Team assists in the execution of the product at the selected manufacturing facility, and provides the client with a complete set of documentation including the data gathered during literature search, concept development, prototype formulation and production, results of and chemical and physical analyses carried out, and observations from plant the start-up.