At age 15, Philip Nelson was named “Tomato King” at the Indiana State Fair after he presented 24 perfect 4-H tomatoes he’d grown on the family farm.

Now, he is Scholle Chair Professor in Food Processing, founder of Purdue University’s Department of Food Science – and a World Food Prize laureate.

Nelson spent most of his career, and owes his World Food Prize, to research on something called, “aseptic processing.”

Through his research, Nelson developed a system of storing food in sterilized containers without spoilage organisms or pathogens.

Chopped tomatoes stored in huge tanks for months lose none of color, flavor or vitamins they had on the vine, scientists say.

The system made it practical to send food and other consumables half a world away without refrigeration. Ninety percent of the world’s annual 24-million-ton fresh tomatoes crop is processed in this way. Some 95 percent of the global orange juice market trades on juice stored through aseptic techniques developed by Nelson and colleagues.

I have a friend in Cabot, AR, a keen gardener and tomato champeen of sorts himself, who would be appalled. Why ship tomatoes half a world away when everyone knows the only REAL tomatoes come from your home garden?

Good point. California tomatoes from the supermarket  -- whole or chopped -- taste like Playdo compared to 'maters homegrown in Arkansas (or wherever you happen to live.).

The big food prize this year doesn’t directly benefit local foods or small farmers.Certainly aseptic processing seems to have been far more beneficial to large processors. After all, Nelson helped develop a system of transporting food by the shipload without refrigeration.

Not many subsistence-level farmers would benefit in an obvious way. But I'd like to know more before passing final judgement. (Always willing to be convinced of a public good!)

Nelson acknowledges that from the early days of his research he's sought and received funding from food industry sources. Other academics frowned on that, told him it was uncool to mix with merchants, that it would cast a shadow of doubt on his research and hurt his career.

(Nelson doesn't think it did now that all the shouting is over.)

But real people have benefitted too.

Thirsty victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asian tsunami were probably pretty happy to see the 5.5 million gallons of pure water they received that had been processed and packaged in bags using techniques Nelson helped develop.

At first glance, aseptic processing would seem to have its best use in humanitarian relief and feeding because of easy transport to remote locations and the ability for storage in places without a hope of elaborate facilities.

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