Food Processors Can Test Products in New Mexico's Commercial Kitchens

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If you're interested in bottling and selling a food product, a New Mexico State University food technologist has a recipe for success. Anna María Pérez-Wright has the story.

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If people say you should bottle and sell your recipe, maybe you should try it. But be forewarned, large-scale commercial food processing can be expensive because the law requires food processors to use certified commercial kitchen facilities. Food Technology Specialist Nancy Flores with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service says to help aspiring food processors, several commercial kitchen facilities are available in New Mexico.

"The reason you'd want to use a commercial kitchen is you wouldn't have to pay for all this expensive equipment. You'd have to pay for use of the facilities, and it varies from ten to fifteen dollars an hour. You also have support facilities for business management and business development which you may not have if you're trying to do it on your own."

Commercial kitchen facilities in Canjilón and Questa will be open shortly and facilities in Española and Taos are already available. Flores says a new commercial kitchen facility has recently opened in Albuquerque at the Rio Grande Economic Development Center.

"The center also offers economic development for other types of business, not only food businesses, and it will offer other types of support for food processors."

For information on food processing, call Flores at (505) 646-1179. For more information on available commercial kitchens, call Jean Gibson with the New Mexico Food Producers and Processors Association at (505) 856-5147. For N-M-S-U's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, I'm Anna María Pérez-Wright.