Your questions.Our answers.

An agri-food innovation and applied research centre affiliated with the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe. Since 1986, our experts have supported companies that want to innovate and improve their performance.

A college technology transfer centre: an applied research centre attached to a college that puts its expertise and equipment at companies’ service. Cintech is part of the CCTT network.

About forty professionals: research and development, processing and scale-up, thermal process validation, quality assurance and regulatory affairs, innovation and marketing.

At 3000 avenue José-Maria-Rosell in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, in the heart of a food technopole. The HUMAMI Centre, dedicated to sensory expertise, is our second site.

Companies of all sizes, universities, research centres and public partners that support agri-food innovation.

Describe your challenge in the form or call us: an expert gets back to you to discuss it. A framing workshop with our experts then sets the trial plan.

No. A concept, a trend or a customer request is enough to begin: we start from your market, your constraints and your goals.

Our industrial mandates are confidential projects, from a one-off analysis to a development programme lasting several months.

Companies of all sizes, whether they are launching a new product or want to optimize an existing production.

Yes. A one-off analysis (particle size, stability, water activity, microbiology…) is a mandate like any other.

It depends on the nature of the project, from a one-off analysis to a development programme of several months. Describe your need to an expert to discuss it.

Most often because of droplets that are too large or too spread out, a poorly dosed emulsifier or an insufficient continuous-phase viscosity. A Turbiscan measurement and a particle size analysis tell creaming, flocculation and coalescence apart before correcting.

A deposit (sedimentation) often comes from particle size or density and from the formulation. We measure particle size and stability, then adjust the particle distribution, the formulation or the process.

It is water being expelled from a gel (yogurt, sauce, dessert). It depends on the protein or hydrocolloid network, pH, heat treatment and shear. We adjust the formulation and the process, then check it in storage.

Water activity that is too high, or a hygroscopic material exposed to humidity, causes caking. The Aqualab VSA plots the sorption isotherm to set the target water activity and packaging conditions.

We first identify the factors that influence quality and stability (formulation, process, packaging, storage), then measure them and adjust. Shelf-life studies confirm the result.

Yes. Reformulating is part of improving an existing product: we adjust ingredients to preserve texture, taste and functional properties.

From a few weeks (accelerated trials) to the product’s target shelf life (real-condition trials). We often combine both to decide quickly, then confirm.

With framing: product goal, constraints (ingredients, claims, cost), measurable success criteria. A workshop with our experts usually sets the trial plan.

Yes: spray drying, moisture reduction and optimization of dehydrated ingredients’ properties. The Powder and Ingredients Test Center, created with Palamatic Process, is dedicated to these trials.

A process where material is mixed, cooked and shaped under pressure in two-screw equipment. It lets you develop snacks, modify ingredients’ functional properties and upcycle raw materials.

To improve the texture, uniformity and stability of beverages, emulsions and other liquid formulations.

Pasteurization, sterilization and canning: we assess and optimize the processes.

Yes. The approach goes through characterizing the co-product, choosing the drying method and running processing trials, then validating its properties (functionality, stability, process constraints).

Measuring particle size distribution, to optimize texture, dispersion and powder properties.

Assessing physical stability: sedimentation, creaming and phase separation in dispersions and emulsions.

A characterization of the interactions between water and ingredients that helps explain a product’s stability, especially for powders.

Yes: viscosity and flow behaviour, to optimize texture and processes.

Information complementary to conventional methods: molecular and functional properties of ingredients (fluorescence), product composition and heterogeneity (hyperspectral imaging), with possible quality-control applications.

Yes. Beyond the measurements, our experts interpret the results to understand the phenomena involved and guide improvements.

As soon as an acidified, pasteurized or sterilized product goes to market, or a critical parameter (format, recipe, equipment) changes. Cintech runs heat-penetration studies and acts as Process Authority.

Establishing and validating thermal processes suited to your products’ characteristics.

Counts and detection of hygiene-indicator, spoilage or pathogenic microorganisms, depending on available methods.

Yes: support with risk assessment, documentation and meeting applicable requirements, in quality assurance and regulatory affairs.

A trial that validates a formulation or a process under conditions representative of industrial production, before you invest.

No. Our pilot facilities let you try things out without investing right away, which limits premature investments.

Yes: making representative quantities to run trials and validations.

We support you in adapting and implementing processes at industrial scale, identifying technical constraints and equipment needs.