History

Within twenty years, MicVac is projected to have a market leading position offering value-added solutions and packaging materials to convenience food producers

The MicVac story

When Dr Joel Haamer conducted blue water surveys in the mid sixties, he realised that there was a good possibility of cultivating mussels in the waters of the Swedish west coast. In 1966, he started the first experimental ”mussel farm” outside Lyr. Funding for research soon followed and best practices were soon established for the professional farming of mussels.

In the late seventies and beginning of the eighties, the company delivered frozen mussels to professional kitchens all over Europe. Exports grew. Times were good. Then came the poisonous algae. This toxic menace nearly wiped out the entire market for Swedish mussels. But all was not lost.

Despite the set back, Dr Haamer continued his extensive research on marine food cultivation and preservation. Conventional methods were used as well as state-of-the art methods developed in the lab. He even employed his own ”smart cat” to test results –and not once did his trusted feline inspector fail.

Understanding how a cat functions is anyone’s guess, but understanding what makes one good mussel delicious and another good mussel rancid is fairly simple: oxygen. Oxygen is bad for freshness. So oxygen must go away. That gives freshness a better chance to make it all the way to the consumer. Together, these observations helped inspire the unique MicVac valve, which has taken microwave cooking to a higher level of quality.

In 1998, Dr Haamer applied to patent his unique MicVac valve. After 9 months of waiting for the patent, he started to further develop his food processing method. Great interest followed.  More benefits were discovered. Funds to commercialise the idea and continue its development came from Chalmers Invest and Chalmers Innovation.

In August 2000, MicVac was founded.

Today, Dr Haamer’s innovative MicVac valve and the MicVac method are being used successfully by the food industry all over the world. The fundamental concept – to cook a product while retaining taste and extending shelf life – remains the same. But change has come to better feed a hungry world.