Dr. Kirk Kealey
During the 29th annual Georgia Peanut Tour last week, participants listened to several lectures during the “Peanut Hot Topics” night. One of the speakers was Dr. Kirk Kealey, the director of the University of Georgia (UGA) Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center, or FoodPIC, as they like to call it.
The FoodPIC is located at the UGA Griffin campus, and helps small businesses and individuals develop new food products and carry them to market. FoodPIC can provide consultation, and they also have a kitchen facility available for use.
We sat down with Dr. Kealey, who gave us an overview of the program.
In addition to its services, FoodPIC is also offering a two-day workshop called “Starting a New Food Business,” where people interested in getting their food product into the market can learn about food safety and sanitation, meeting FDA regulations, record keeping, nutrition labels and more. This year’s workshop will be October 6-7, and you can register online here.