Vancouver, Canada-based EnWave Corp., signed a royalty-bearing commercial license with Hormel Foods Corp., Austin, Minn., to enable the production and sale of specific products dehydrated with the company's Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) technology.

Enwave uses microwaves to draw the water out of food products without damaging them, promising dramatic time and cost savings over traditional freeze-drying. Under the license, EnWave and Hormel Foods agreed to long-term royalty rates, broader global market rights and the use of EnWave's nutraDRIED trademark on the retail packaging of Hormel Foods products. Other terms of the license remain confidential.

To support ongoing testing, EnWave is leasing Hormel Foods a large pilot-scale nutraREV production unit expected to be fully operational in the summer of 2013. Hormel Foods and EnWave agreed on general commercial equipment designs and financial terms with plans to place a commercial-scale equipment order by the first half of 2014.

"The planned product launch by Hormel Foods represents another important market segment opportunity for our REV technology," says Dr. Tim Durance, chairman and co-CEO of EnWave. "We believe that the marketing and distribution scale of Hormel Foods will enable these new products to have a very good chance for long-term commercial success on a global basis."