Innovation & Job News

A lunch meat business started from the trunk of Vincent Sandridge's car in 1960 has grown into one of the nation's leading fresh food providers.

Today, Sandridge Food Corp., with both food service and retail operations, is continuing to grow -- it added 64 jobs in the last year and 35 jobs since May -- and employment now stands at 469, says Mary Vaccaro, senior marketing manager for the Medina-based company.

The company's most recent job additions are at least partly due to Sandridge's first-in-industry application of a technology called high pressure processing -- a heatless technique that eliminates pathogens from Sandridge's salads, soups and other packaged foods.

Here's how it works. Food is packaged in a flexible container and loaded into a high-pressure chamber filled with cold water. The chamber is pressurized to between 58,000 and 87,000 pounds per square inch. Because the pressure is transmitted evenly, the food keeps its shape -- and because no heat is used, the flavor and other characteristics of the food are maintained while destroying harmful bacteria.

"High pressure processing is not a new technology, but it's new in our arena," Vaccaro says. "We have found that although food safety is number one, there are these residual benefits that come out of high pressure processing in our industry. It really intensifies flavors. And it extends the usable shelf life for many of our products, and that's also an advantage to our customers."

Sandridge remains a family-run business. While Vincent Sandridge is no longer alive, his sons Mark and Michael serve as CEO and senior director of food service sales, respectively, Vaccaro says. Mark Sandridge's sons Jordan and Dane also work for the company, she notes.