EnWave, Hormel Partner to Sell Dehydrated Food Products

VANCOUVEREnWave Corporation signed a royalty-bearing commercial license with Hormel Foods Corporation enabling the production and sale of specific products dehydrated with the company's Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) technology.

Under the license, EnWave and Hormel Foods agreed to long-term royalty rates, broader global market rights and the use of EnWave's nutraDRIED trademark on the retail packaging of products from Hormel Foods. Other terms of the license will remain confidential.

Enwave uses microwaves to draw the water out of food products without damaging them, allowing for time and cost savings over traditional freeze-drying. The global dehydration business is worth $2 billion per year, and their products are being tested by companies like Nestlé, Kellogg and Ocean Spray.

To support ongoing testing, EnWave is leasing Hormel Foods a large pilot-scale nutraREV^® production unit, expected to be fully operational in summer 2013. Based on successful test efforts, HormelFoods and EnWave have agreed on general commercial equipment designs and financial terms with plans to place a commercial-scale equipment order by the first half of 2014.

"The planned product launch by Hormel Foods represents another important market segment opportunity for our REV technology," said Tim Durance, chairman and co-CEO of EnWave. "We believe that the marketing and distribution scale of Hormel Foods will enable these new products to have a very good chance for long-term commercial success on a global basis."