A food preservation process that could virtually eliminate refrigeration requirements for many of today's consumer products has been developed by a UC Davis food technologist. The process, known as microencapsulation, is similar to the technique used by manufacturers to place a hard-coated shell around soft-centered candies. "Microencapsulation, however, is performed at the microscopic level, using whole-milk byproducts to form a protective shell barrier against rancidity and food-odor transfers," says Moshe Rosenberg, a UC Davis Cooperative Extension food engineering specialist. "This process may provide a safe, extended shelf life of weeks or even months for dairy and other temperature-sensitive foods," he says. For example, butter processed into an encapsulated powder could then be mixed with other food products without losing its flavor. Even fat and oil odors are undetectable with miroencapsulation. The technology, first developed for the manufacture of carbon paper, has been in existence for several decades but is just now being successfully applied to food processing, Rosenberg says.