LOOKING AT THE HIGH-PRESSURE PROCESSING MACHINE OPERATED BY PENN STATE food scientists Stephen Knabel and Ramaswamy Anantheswaran, it’s hard to avoid just a tinge of disappointment. A beige, metal box with no flashing lights, video displays, or 3-D computer graphics, it is prodigious scientific potential in a plain, brown wrapper—no flash, but plenty of substance. Bland appearance aside, the machine is far from a disappointment. One of only about ten existing in the world, it can generate internal pressures of up to 100,000 pounds per square inch, destroying foodborne pathogens with minimal change in food texture.