Pocatello Idaho Bio-tech company, Global Food Technologies, to add 200 jobs – Local work force could reach 500

Global Food Technologies Inc., http://www.globalfoodtech.com a bio-tech firm that has existed practically unnoticed in the Gate City for three years, plans to begin hiring at least 200 people by the end of 2003.

By Sean Ellis – Journal Writer

The company will sell systems it says greatly reduce and in most cases completely eliminate disease-causing bacteria (pathogens) in seafood.

Global Food Technologies, which currently employs 13 people at its facility at 1656 Kraft Road, also plans to make systems that kill pathogens in poultry and meat.

If those plans go well, the company plans to employ about 500 people at its Pocatello plant within five years.

Plant manager Blair Truman said the technology has the potential to revolutionize the food safety industry.

"If it goes the way we planned … then everybody will be knocking down our doors. It’s more than huge. There’s a big up side to this."

Local leaders hailed the announcement as good news for a sagging local economy.

"We’re very excited about this opportunity. If all goes well, these are the types of jobs we’ve been hoping would come to Pocatello," said Mayor Roger Chase.

"As a city, we’re going to do whatever we can to make these folks successful here."

"I’m very pleased and very excited about this opportunity," said Bannock Development Corp. Executive Director Ray Burstedt.

"With the development of their technology, we’re certainly looking forward to growing this industry in Pocatello."

With a few exceptions, most people didn’t know about the business, which kept its plans quiet because it was worried about competitors trying to steal its trade secrets.

Mark Terry, chief operations officer and co-founder of the company, charged that people from Asia have posed as clothes salesmen and tried to sneak into the 65,000-square-foot facility to hack into the company’s Web site.

"There are quite a lot of people in the industry that would like to have this (technology) in their process," Truman said.

The company will explain its products more fully at a media day presentation April 25. The company was awaiting approval of two critical patents before going public. They were accepted in February.

Terry said managers who work there will earn about $100,000, lab employees will earn about $40,000 and production employees will make $20,000-plus. The company pays 100 percent of medical benefits, including dental and vision.

Global Food Technologies is headquartered in Fresno, Calif., and produces systems that reduce and eliminate pathogens. The Pocatello facility will serve as the company’s research and development center.

The pathogen-killing devices will be tested and manufactured here.

According to company officials, the annual cost of pathogen-related disease is $5-6 billion in the United States alone. Disease-causing bacteria claim an estimated 9,000 lives each year and cause about 81 million cases of diarrheal disease.

The company chose the seafood industry as its primary target because it is the No. 1 internationally traded food product and experiences a high incidence of pathogen contamination.

According to Global estimates, global worldwide production of seafood was estimated at over 282 billion pounds in 1998. More than 106.8 million pounds were detained or rejected.

The system Global Food is creating is known as a SEAfoodBACteria elimination system, or SEABAC.

SEABAC is designed to greatly reduce if not eliminate the pathogen problem, company officials said. Once the device is certified by the Food and Drug Administration, the company will begin manufacturing.

More than $2 million worth of work has already been done at the facility and funding is already secured to begin manufacturing once FDA-certification is achieved, Truman said.

Terry, who invented the technology for the patent and has lived here five years, said he chose Pocatello over California for the facility because of the Gate City’s quality of life.

"This is such a great community for raising your children," he said. "You can have your front door unlocked and not worry about your children being stolen."

He said the area’s available work force is another important factor.

Company plans to market system that will reduce dangerous bacteria

California-based bio-tech firm Global Food Technologies Inc. will manufacture a system it says will greatly reduce if not eliminate disease-causing bacteria, known as pathogens

Besides killing pathogens, the technology could also be used to extend the shelf life of food products.

The systems are a series of equipment that perform five different functions for manipulating the cell matrix. They kill food- and air-borne pathogens that cause dangerous diseases such as salmonella and e-coli.

They will be placed in food processing facilities, which will pay Global Food a set amount per pound of product that run through the systems, known as SEAfoodBACteria elimination systems, or SEABAC.

For more information about Global Food Technologies, visit the company’s Web site at http://www.globalfoodtech.com. Employment information will be included on the Web site after April 25.

http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2003/04/16/news/local/news01.txt