JBT Corp., Chicago, and its JBT FoodTech business purchased the rotary sterilization technology from H.G. Molenaar & Co (Pty) Ltd., headquartered in Paarl, South Africa. Molenaar is a family-owned and operated company that has engineered, manufactured and distributed large-scale machinery for the food and beverage industry since 1949.

This acquisition strengthens JBT's in-container sterilization portfolio for the canned food industry.  
"Molenaar's innovative can handling technology coupled with its large capacity cooker/coolers are a natural complement to JBT's existing product offering," says Steve Smith, vice president and division manager for JBT FoodTech's Food Processing Systems division. "We can now offer our global customers an even broader range of solutions tailored to their specific processing needs."

JBT plans to initially integrate the Molenaar technology into its existing South African production facility, where the company will leverage its current capacity and engineering capabilities. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.