DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)

A scientist who developed new ways to process, transport and store large amounts of fruits and vegetables while maintaining their nutritional value was announced Monday as winner of the 2007 World Food Prize.

Philip E. Nelson, a professor at Purdue University, received the $250,000 (€186,511) award that recognises people who help improve the availability and quality of food throughout the world.

Nelson pioneered technologies that reduce post-harvest waste and spoilage and that have allowed the vegetable and fruit packing industry to move from a system of packaging fresh items once a year to shipping products year-round. The technologies include aseptic, or commercially sterile, storage methods that kill food-spoiling germs.

He also developed carbon steel tanks used to store perishable food at ambient temperatures. The tanks, which can be up to six-stories high, are coated with an epoxy resin, a substance that helps keep them pathogen-free.

"It allows us to move product in bulk around the world for use by many, many people," Nelson, 72, said during an interview with The Associated Press. "It also allows not only the U.S., but other countries and developing countries to export product."

Nelson's developments have been used to help deliver food aid and water during international crises, including the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina's Gulf Coast devastation in 2005. The professor has been teaching his methods to food scientists around the world for nearly 25 years.

Winner

The winner was announced at a ceremony at the U.S. State Department in Washington by Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation. The prize was founded by Norman Borlaug, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for developing high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties that helped fight starvation in India and Pakistan in the 1960s.

"It's just beyond my belief," said Nelson, who has partnered with various companies throughout his career to develop aseptic equipment and processing methods, including a "bag-in-box" system that is used throughout the food industry.

In 1991, the Institute of Food Technologists rated aseptic processing and packaging as the top innovation in food technology, above developments such as freeze drying, food fortification and safe canning processes, the foundation said.

Nelson said he is not sure yet what he will do with the prize money.

"It's so humbling. I'm always asking, 'Did they get the wrong guy?"' he said.