Food prices have increased by 21.6 per cent in the last three years and almost 7 million people have experienced food insecurity including almost 2 million children. Further, food price inflation has reached its highest rate since the early 1980s, with prices rising by an average of 10 per cent in 2022 and a further five-seven per cent in 2023.

The white paper, Unpuzzling Food Inflation: How Innovation Adoption by Canada’s Food Processing Sector will Flatten the Curve, highlights the various factors contributing to the rise in food prices—high input costs, labour expenses, staffing shortages, and geopolitical risks. It also explains how the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation, causing supply chain disruptions and further driving costs.

The white paper emphasizes the need for innovation to control food prices and reduce food insecurity.

Labour challenges and rising input costs

Canada’s F&B businesses are struggling with labour shortages, impacting production and increasing consumer prices. The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) reports a deficit of 50,000 workers and predicts 66,800 retirements by 2030, costing the sector up to $3.6 billion annually.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and Food and Beverage Canada (FBC) found manufacturers are typically 25 per cent understaffed.

Kristina Farrell, FBC CEO, said traditional policy tools help the industry address immediate labour shortfalls, but they cannot fully account for shifting demographics and an ageing workforce.

“The systemic and chronic labour shortfalls in our sector require an innovation-based approach – such as the businesses and stakeholder ecosystem that CFIN is fostering – to drive technological innovation in a way that complements and builds workers’ skills, and empowers them to be more productive,” Farrell is quoted as saying in the white paper.

Shelf life and food waste

The World Food Program (WFP) reports that throughout the supply chain, one-third of global food production is wasted annually. In Canada, 58 per cent of produced food is wasted, valued at $49 billion. This waste contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, with over 56 million tons of GHGs emitted annually in Canada.

Michael Graydon, CEO of Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada said the country’s F&B sector is working to reduce waste by finding innovative ways of addressing waste in manufacturing and production processes.

“Due to the huge scale of the issue, Canada needs to leverage innovation to create new manufacturing processes, recycling and re-use options, and food preservation techniques to truly change the waste dynamic,” Graydon said in the white paper.

Commercial dynamics in the F&B sector

Most of the 7,600 F&B processors in Canada are small or medium-sized businesses with fewer than 100 employees. These companies often lack the resources for innovation and competitive pricing compared to larger brands. New vision and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are helping smaller processors by providing accurate data to optimize production and reduce costs, ultimately preventing future food price increases.

The white paper mentions several F&B companies with innovations in the foodtech space. Vancouver’s Purdy’s Chocolatier has reduced the cost of its ingredients and improved the nutritional profile of its chocolates by testing new food ingredients. Toronto’s Laplace Robotics has deployed AI to enhance the functionality of robotic and vision systems on manufacturing lines, thereby improving productivity and quality in food manufacturing. Plan Automation, Bolton, Ont., has developed an X-ray system to reduce food waste by identifying contaminants in food batches.

In the foreword section of the white paper, CFIN CEO Dana McCauley said, “Canada is ripe for innovation in the food industry as a solution to competitiveness, productivity, and food inflation challenges.”

To comprehensively address rising food costs, Canada must accelerate innovation in the food and beverage manufacturing sector, stressed the white paper. This will require time, dedication, and investment, but it is achievable, McCauley added.

“I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to work on products that make people’s lives better and/or bring them moments of joy,” she says. “I am excited every day to work with the countless PFC brands that people know and love.”

Ferdinando has been president of PFC since 2022, a role that includes leadership of Frito Lay Canada and Quaker Canada. Previously, she was chief marketing officer of Frito-Lay North America. Prior to joining PepsiCo, she was VP and global sector leader for family care at Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Throughout her career, Ferdinando was able to work all over the world, giving her “a unique perspective as a leader,” while also “enriching my ability to connect with people anywhere I go.”

After becoming PFC president, Ferdinando connected with as many PFC employees as possible. She led a national listening tour, visiting all company regions and plants with a focus on hearing from frontline employees. This resulted in her creation of a new vision for PFC, along with more investment in expanding employee recognition and appreciation.

Last year, Ferdinando connected with every Frito Lay Canada plant team and region zone team across the nation.

“I was also fortunate to visit the impressive family farms where we source our ingredients,” she shares. “I’ve learned so much about the end-to-end journey of our products and the broader and very dynamic Canadian food system. Spending time with the hard-working people who make, move, and sell our products is one of the best parts of my job.”

Always a learner

Regarding those products, Ferdinando is very proud of her team’s commitment to consumer-centric innovation. “With the strong diversity that’s present in Canada, we’ve innovated products to meet the unique preferences of multicultural Canadians,” she says, “whether it’s through new, bold flavours or using successful flavours from other markets.”

Ferdinando explains that continuous learning is essential for her.

“I take the opportunity to learn from everyone I meet,” she says. “I also like to tap into my science training to break down complex problems and explore them in different ways. The more I learn, the more I can help others grow and succeed. Leadership as PFC president means uplifting those around me. I’m passionate about continuing to support the advancement of women and our inclusive culture at PFC, as well as efforts to enhance employee wellness, including clear boundaries between work and home life.”

Ferdinando is excited to continue realizing her company’s vision to inspire more joy for tomorrow’s food experiences, sustainably.

“Where we go is very much a team approach, grounded in our field-first culture,” she says. “We have strong plans in place to build on some of the incredible work we’ve already delivered and become bigger and better than ever before. My top goal is removing barriers for our valued frontline colleagues who make up about 90 per cent of our employees. I want to ensure PFC is a great place to work for everyone, especially the frontline, and I will continue to listen and engage with those colleagues going forward.”

This article was originally published in the April/May 2024 issue of Food in Canada.

Like many of his peers, Cator started working at the family business as a young teen and then studied business.

“All I knew is that I didn’t want to be bored,” he says, “and I never have been. There are so many intricacies involved in producing meat products, and I love the close relationships with our customers, as well as leading our outstanding team.”

Cator learned how to innovate from Ralph (who almost single-handedly made the concept of the burger mainstream in Canada decades ago, and for that and more, was inducted into the Meat Industry Hall of Fame). About 30 years ago, Ralph was supposed to retire, but “he was determined to develop a cooked rib product in my mother’s sauce,” says Cator, “and if we didn’t do it, he was going to do it with someone else.”

This push resulted in one of Cardinal’s biggest achievements, where Cator led the creation of their now-famous Safe Sous Vide cooking process by collaborating with scientists from two universities over three years. The team adapted the sous vide cooking method used by chefs into a patented large-scale industrial process that has been a phenomenal success (and also led to changes in regulatory law). The products, which Cator says are cost-effective, consistent, food-safe, and delicious, are from underutilized cuts and have been in hot demand since the start from both home cooks and restaurants.

“We made cooked ribs, of course, but also many other products like shredded pork, chicken breasts in lemon-pepper sauce, bone-in half chicken, and meat loaf,” says Cator.

The art of forming burgers

The success of Safe Sous Vide prompted Cator to further innovate. He brought in biological food safety testing, and with VP of operations John Vatri, discovered a method that meat processing plants could use to make ground meat safer.

“Again, we advanced food safety regulations in Canada and the U.S.,” says Cator.

Further innovation followed. Cardinal was the first to use Tender-Form fill to create burger patties. The company’s philosophy of ‘once innovated, innovate again’ led to also commercializing their burgers made using a unique Natural Texture Formed forming technology. In total, so far, Cardinal Meats holds three patents.

Just in the last year, the Cardinal product line grew by leaps and bounds, and Cator anticipates more expansion, especially in the Safe Sous Vide line.

“It’s as fresh as if a chef just made it,” says Cator. “Its popularity is really growing right now, with restaurants needing to save labour and more people eating at home but wanting a special experience.”

Cator wants to explore using Safe Sous Vide in starchy dishes, but says, “I’d like to spend more time researching technologies from around the world to add to the business. I love the customer intimacy, I love the speed of this industry, [and] I love the challenges. I want to hear what our customers wish they could get, and then find how we can do that. I love my team. I’m very proud of our company culture. Our staff is very engaged and like me, they believe there is always a better way.”

This article was originally published in the April/May 2024 issue of Food in Canada.

The government had promised to phase out the farms by next year, but Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier announced she would allow aquaculture farms to renew their licences in a “responsible, realistic and achievable transition” away from the ocean farms.

Conservation and some Indigenous groups that have been lobbying Ottawa to make good on the 2019 commitment to phase out open net-pen salmon farms by 2025, said they were pleased with the decision to force the operations on land, but expressed concern with the extended time frame.

Industry representatives and B.C. Indigenous nations involved in salmon farming reacted with concern and disappointment, saying the government has created an environment of uncertainty that could cause economic harm to coastal and Indigenous communities.

“I will expect that the salmon farming industry will probably react negatively, but my message to them is engage us,” Jonathan Wilkinson, the federal energy and natural resources minister, said in an interview.

“Engage us in a conversation about how we can actually make closed containment systems cost effective,” said Wilkinson, a former minister of fisheries.

Lebouthillier has been consulting with many groups about the transition plan involving 79 salmon farms off the B.C. coast after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged during the 2019 election that his government would phase out open ocean-pen farming.

The government said part of its aquaculture future program will include the introduction of nine-year licences for closed containment salmon farm operations, either marine- or land-based.

Wilkinson said the government is sending the message that it must move to protect declining wild salmon stocks, particularly in times when scientific debate is examining the possible impact of the farms on wild salmon.

“I’m not a scientist but I recognize the significance of the scientific debate, and in an era where these stocks are crashing, it behooves us to act with caution and not to wait until we actually don’t have anything left to save,” said Wilkinson, who announced the government’s decision in 2019 to phase out the ocean-based salmon farms.

Indigenous leaders and industry representatives reacted with disappointment on Wednesday, saying the government is making a decision rooted in politics and not science.

“Instead of embracing a balanced pathway towards economic opportunity, increasing healthy and affordable homegrown food, recognizing an exceptional level of Indigenous collaboration and economic reconciliation and incrementally greater environmental protection, it has embraced a position that reflects unaccountable and extreme activist voices,” Timothy Kennedy, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance president, said in a statement.

The federal minister called the government’s plan realistic, reasonable and achievable, but it really is “unrealistic, unreasonable and unachievable,” he said.

The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, which says the industry supports about 4,700 jobs and generates more than $1 billion annually, said the five-year transition plan will hurt coastal communities.

“Salmon farming in B.C. has been a vital sector contributing significantly to Canada’s economy and food security,” Brian Kingzett, B.C. Salmon Farmers Association executive director, said in a statement. “However, the political conditions on the licences increase the uncertainty for aquaculture in B.C. and Canada.”

Isaiah Robinson, deputy chief of the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation on B.C.’s Central Coast, said Ottawa is making a decision about the livelihoods of his people “based off of wealthy billionaires, politicians and activists.”

Robinson made the comments at a Vancouver news conference with the leaders of several Indigenous nations who are involved in salmon farming.

“They’re attempting to once again dictate our future as Indigenous people,” he said.

The plan to remove open net-pen salmon farms from B.C. coastal waters is supported by most First Nations in the province, said Bob Chamberlin, who represents more than 100 B.C. nations as the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance chairman.

“It benefits all British Columbians and so this is a very important day for wild salmon, but I think it’s a big day for reconciliation across the province,” he said at a news conference.

The Watershed Watch Salmon Society said it was pleased to hear the federal government will remove salmon farms from ocean waters, but has concerns about the five-year wait.

“We are relieved that the federal government is sticking to their commitment to remove the farms, but five years is too long for the phaseout period,” executive director Aaron Hill said in a statement. “That’s five more years of bombarding wild salmon with parasites and viruses from factory fish farms.”

Lebouthtillier said while wild Pacific salmon are an iconic species important to First Nations, and commercial and recreational fishermen, aquaculture represents food security and its supply to consumers is surpassing wild fishing around the world.

“If we want to protect wild species, want to move forward, we have to use aquaculture,” she said.

Lebouthtillier said the future involves safely increasing aquaculture without harming wild salmon.

Former fisheries minister Joyce Murray, who attended Wednesday’s news conference in Vancouver with Wilkinson, said salmon farming can amplify and release parasites and alien diseases into ocean waters infecting wild Pacific salmon on their migration routes.

“This transition is an opportunity to build sustainable economic alternatives with affected communities and to support our government’s critical work and rebuilding vital salmon stocks and fisheries throughout,” she said.

Meeting the functionality of dairy proteins with plant-based proteins is a major challenge, considering how structurally different plant seed storage proteins are from dairy proteins. Additionally, dairy proteins are generally more stable against aggregation and other quality defects at the pH of coffee compared to plant-based proteins.

Given these challenges, an approach to identify and quantify the functionality gaps between dairy and commercial plant-based milk products has been established via functionality mapping. Using barista-style non-dairy milk as a core example, a mapping approach was applied, then leveraged to understand from a structure-function standpoint why plant-based commercial offerings are functionally inferior to dairy; identify the quantitative targets for bridging the gap; and guide the creation of a winning plant-based solution.

Tracking patterns in how different formulations perform allows such an approach to have the highest level of success in developing a novel ingredient system for plant-based dairy beverage in general, and barista-style dairy beverage functionality in particular. It also demonstrates how utilizing a functionality mapping approach can progress ingredient structure-function understanding and catalyze the development of novel plant-based food and beverage applications.

Meeting consumer plant-based demands

The steady growth in sales of plant-based milk continues to be strong and already is closing in on US$3 billion annually at a double-digit CAGR of 11 per cent, according to research conducted by the marketing group SPINS conducted for 52 weeks, ending January 2023. Multiple reasons for this growth include overall consumer interest toward plant-based/healthier diets, sustainability, and animal welfare concerns.

In fact, as SPINS included in its report, plant-based milk currently makes up some 15 per cent of the overall retail milk sales market. But merely being plant-based isn’t enough: Consumers need plant-based milk alternatives to meet the functionality, taste, and nutrition of their dairy-based counterparts. As the non-dairy milk market grows, products must evolve to meet consumer needs.

Dairy milk is typically perceived as the benchmark standard when it comes to improving taste, nutrition, and functionality of a plant-based replacer. And functionality is especially important when it comes to crafting plant-based versions of so-called ‘barista milk.’ With the rise of specialty foamed coffee beverages, consumers seek strong foaming functionality as dairy milk.

Determining and measuring the texture gap

When it comes to popular barista milk, there is a major gap to fill between plant-based versions and the dairy ones being mimicked. The plant-based versions must overcome the common challenges of creating and holding a foam, having a smooth and creamy foam texture, and avoiding formation of particulates and separation in hot and/or acidic beverages, all while carrying perfect flavour.

The protein structure and composition of dairy components are perfectly designed for high water-solubility, leading to a smooth and stable system when added to coffee. Moreover, dairy protein structure and composition allow for strong foaming capacity and stability, such that their barista milk attain and maintain foam volume and quality over time.

Issues challenging plant-based dairy analogs, especially those of plant-based barista milk, include low water-solubility of certain components. This is because plant proteins are designed to pack tightly together in mostly dry environments—the protein molecules are typically large and highly hydrophobic. This lower solubility and marked structural and compositional differences translate to weaker foaming properties, poor foam height, poor foam quality, agglomeration/aggregation, and particle settling — the plant-based alternatives clump and separate when exposed to the heat and acid of a coffee or tea beverage.

However, these challenges go beyond barista milk and extend to all plant-based versions of animal-based dairy products. By approaching the advancement of plant-based ingredient structure-function understanding, it is possible to move closer to the animal-based ‘gold standards’ and develop analogs that effectively meet them with full organoleptic experience and functionality.

Bridging the gap with functionality mapping

To bridge the plant-based dairy/animal-based dairy ‘texture gap,’  it is important to first identify the key functionalities that must be met. Then, developers would design a methodology to adequately measure functionality, and map current plant-based functionality vs. animal-based gold standards to quantify key components of the  starting point and the desired end point. Once these processes are in place, it is possible to leverage that mapping into a hypothesis-based testing that drives development of the solution.

Using barista milk as an example, as described above the key  functionalities are: generation and stabilization of foam, having a smooth and creamy microfoam texture, and avoiding the agglomeration, aggregation, and particle settling that causes separation and textural challenges in hot/acidic beverages. And, of course, the solution must deliver the full promised flavours, without any off notes or bitterness that sometimes can accompany plant-based proteins. For example, when it comes to barista milk, the methodology developed for creating a plant-based version would focus on foam generation. This would include initial foam volume (foam capacity), foam stability (via measurement of liquid drainage volume over time), and finally its pourability, foam bubble size, and stability when actually poured over a true hot espresso coffee beverage.

Focusing in on foaming capacity and stability as an example, after relevant methodology is developed to characterize these functionalities, functionality mapping of the current commercial landscape would characterize the gap between plant-based and dairy. This could include characterizing and comparing foam volume and stability of multiple bases—almond, oat, pea, and true dairy milk—in both plain dairy milk and barista-style milk. This functionality mapping would reveal trends in functionality by base, protein content, presence of particular ingredients, etc. to characterize the landscape. Additionally, this would allow for quantification of dairy targets and the gap between commercial plant-based and dairy options.

Adjusting levers to unlock solutions

Adopting a multi-ingredient system approach to meet the performance targets of dairy with a plant-based milk product centres on the functional needs of the final product. This then requires establishing proposed structures to meet those functional needs. In the case of plant-based milk analogs, two components to a foaming solution that could work in harmony are protein and hydrocolloid. Certain plant-based proteins can provide foaming capacity depending on their structure and composition, whereas hydrocolloids can provide foaming stability to address functionality gaps between plant-based and dairy. Functionality mapping of different protein-hydrocolloid systems via hypothesis-driven testing can build the ingredient structure-function understanding that unlocks a plant-based barista milk solution. To do this, a proper design of experiments testing ranges of protein and hydrocolloid usage levels allow for tracking of impact of these levers on functionality, and optimization of these two components to meet the dairy-based product functionality target.

Answering key questions

Through the outlined methods of functionality mapping, the approach to crafting consumer-preferred plant-based dairy replacers and analogs can be successfully established. This involves first focusing on three key questions: Have the functionalities that matter to consumers been properly identified? Are the functional performance parameters being measured in a relevant way? And have the gaps between the starting point and the end goal been correctly identified and characterized?

In identifying and quantifying functionality and performance gaps between dairy and plant-based milk, including barista beverages, such a mapping approach can be leveraged to enhance ingredient structure-function understanding and guide the development of a novel plant-based solution.

Based in Westchester, Ill., Alexandra Hall, PhD, is an analytical characterization and texture scientist at Ingredion.

This article was originally published in the April/May 2024 issue of Food in Canada.

Many chocolate companies, like Daniel Chocolates in Vancouver, only use all-natural ingredients. “We use real cream, real fruits and actual herbs and spices,” says owner Monique Poncelet. “We use only plants and fruits, such as cinnamon, ginger and lime, to provide natural flavours.”

Constance Menzies, founder of Chocolatier Constance Popp in Winnipeg, also uses natural ingredients such as real fruit puree in her products.

Many Canadian chocolate companies have no added ingredients in their bars—cocoa beans are ground into delicious pure chocolate. These bars are “hugely popular” at Sirene Chocolate in Victoria, B.C. “For those who haven’t tried it, it’s surprisingly good,” says founder Taylor Kennedy. He describes the flavour experience as savoury, “more akin to a strong black espresso or a neat whisky.”

Galerie au Chocolat offers a line of no added sugar chocolate bars, barks and almond butter cups sweetened with stevia and erythritol. They added more cocoa butter and vanilla to mask the stevia aftertaste. Photo © Galerie au Chocolat

Natural sweeteners

Sugar in moderation is not unhealthy and the amount of sugar in true chocolate is low. However, some people prefer no added sugar in their foods for various health reasons, including diabetics and dietary choices. For this reason, interest in chocolate with stevia and other plant-based natural sweeteners surfaced in recent years, although it seems to have waned somewhat at this point. As Julianna Tan notes (who owns Those Girls at the Market in Saskatoon, Sask., along with her sister Ying), “people’s perception of alternative sweeteners, including xylitol and stevia, vary greatly.”

Several Canadian chocolate companies have done some product development with these ingredients. Several years ago, Dominique and Cindy Duby at Wild Sweets in Richmond, B.C., ordered samples of maltitol and more from suppliers, but decided against further product development for a couple of reasons.

“Maybe it had something to do with the type of xylitol that we got (although we had a similar effect when we received a sugar-free chocolate bar made with xylitol), but it felt to us that it was similar to the cooling effect that you get with mouthwash,” they report.

Maltitol was a potential option, but the Dubys note that its added cost on top of the price of their premium bean-to-bar chocolate would have been too  high for their customer base.

However companies like Galerie au Chocolat have found success with alternative sweeteners. In 2022, the company launched a line of no added sugar chocolate bars, barks and almond butter cups sweetened with stevia and erythritol.

“Some people can taste stevia,” notes Sellier, “so we accounted for this and added even more cocoa butter and an extra splash of vanilla. The resulting taste is very good, very smooth and delicious.”

Added healthy ingredients

While cocoa beans are high in antioxidants, many consumers are interested in chocolate that has extra antioxidants and healthy ingredients, such as berries, ginger, cinnamon, and turmeric. Daniel Chocolates is currently developing chocolates containing additional Omega-3 fatty acids. These vegan products will also have high levels of protein and fibre.

The Better Chocolate offers FourX Better Chocolates, a line of supplements (vitamins and minerals) in a dark chocolate ‘bite,’ as well as a line of functional chocolate. The company’s products contain MCT oil (which may promote nutrient absorption) and piperine (found in black pepper and having anti-cancer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, cardioprotective, antimicrobial, anti-ageing, and immune-boosting effects).

The Tan sisters create a monthly ‘feature bar,’ which often contain ingredients like goji berry and beet that have extra antioxidants and/or other health-promoting properties. Julianna notes that while “the feature flavours do not always appeal to the mass public, their limited availability, novelty and ability to stimulate both awareness and conversation about certain ingredients make them hot sellers.”

Tan also believes that even if it’s not feasible to add a high dose of a particular health-promoting compound in each product, “having the opportunity to engage in discussion and spread awareness about certain ingredients is a worthy endeavour. For example, in our matcha green tea chocolate bar, we include one full serving of matcha green tea in each eight-piece chocolate bar, but when we market it, we focus on the difference between L-theanine and caffeine when it comes to focus, concentration and productivity.” L-theanine, an amino acid with several health benefits, is found in high amounts in matcha.

In the end, Tan notes that for some customers, eating their bars with matcha or another healthy ingredient might be their first experience with these ingredients, and this introduction may prompt its inclusion as a regular part of the diet. However, transparency about the amount of an ingredient in a chocolate product is very important to Tan, so as not to mislead consumers.

The Dubys also have an interest in accuracy. They explain that just because a certain ingredient, such as matcha, has scientifically identified health benefits, this doesn’t necessarily mean those benefits will be present in a finished product like chocolate.

Process matters

As is the case with many food products, some antioxidants are lost during the manufacturing of chocolate. However, as noted by scientists at the University of British Columbia several years ago, fewer can be lost if chocolate processing is done in specific ways.

The Dubys report that they worked with these scientists to compare their chocolate to other products on the market. “We tested against large global industrial chocolate companies and found that our product, through tested and adjusted procedures, was higher in antioxidants than those brands,” they explain. “Yet, everyone makes the claim that dark chocolate is ‘healthy’ without any evidence that their chocolate actually contains any significant amount of antioxidants.”

The Dubys therefore focus on specific ways of roasting, conching, and completing the other steps in making chocolate, “as well as evaluating and improving the effect of mechanical actions during the different steps” to reduce loss or boost levels of antioxidants.

It seems in the end that those wanting healthier chocolate, however they define it, need to do their due diligence, as is the case with all other food products when it comes to health.

“I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My mom’s an entrepreneur, my grandmother was an entrepreneur, my great-grandmother was an entrepreneur, so I feel like entrepreneurship runs in my blood. As a child, I was always told to create my own destiny. So that was kind of instilled in me growing up,” recalled Bednarski-Malik.

Her passion for food and nutrition eventually led her to become a dietitian as well as attend culinary school. Her professional quest then became one of finding ways to merge her culinary skills and nutrition. Sadly, a health issue pumped the brakes on her plans and made her focus on healing herself.

“It took me two years to recover from an eating disorder. During that process, I reconnected with food and found my love for food again,” said Bednarski-Malik.

In 2014, she decided to create foods that made her feel good. She began experimenting with kale.

“I love vegetables. I would eat these kale chips, and I felt okay. They’re healthy, low in sugar, nutrient dense, and I could feel good about eating them,” she said.

Julie Bednarski-Malik, MHSc, PHEc, RD.

Starbucks as partner

Bednarski-Malik wasn’t the only one who liked the kale chips; her friends and family members found it delicious too. Thus began Healthy Crunch in 2014. It was also fortuitous that her first customer was Starbucks.

Bednarski-Malik was making her kale chips at a collective kitchen where she was renting a table by the hour. During a networking event at the kitchen, Bednarski-Malik offered her chips to a woman who wanted to share them with her friend. She didn’t know then, but the friend was Rossann Williams, head of Starbucks North America at that time. As the story goes, Williams loved the kale chips and contracted Healthy Crunch to make them for Starbucks.

“We started off with one really great partner who believed in us. And Starbucks was such a great customer to launch with because they have a [huge] brand presence. When you’re in Starbucks, people believe you’re legitimate. One year after launching in Starbucks, we had tremendous growth,” she recalled.

The company ended up with listings at Costco, Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws, and Ikea.

“Our kale chips were everywhere; all over Canada, in airports and movie theatres. Cineplex was selling our kale chips. kale was on trend at the time,” she said. “It was the colour of the year. It was just about being at the right place at the right time. I think all the stars were aligned for it to happen.”

The success was immensely appreciated because kale chips is a challenging product to manufacture. It’s a three-day process. Bednarski-Malik also faced supply issues.

“There are not that many kale chips out there right now because it’s very fragile. It takes a long time to make. You’re using fresh ingredients. Sometimes kale is fluffy and sometimes it’s not. There are so many variables to it,” she explained.

Despite the challenges, Healthy Crunch continued making its flagship product. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they couldn’t source the required amount of kale, and the company had to discontinue its most popular product.

Beyond chips

This decision kick-started the next phase of Healthy Crunch, which celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year (If you’re missing their kale chips, Healthy Crunch has relaunched it as part of their anniversary celebrations). It currently has more than 120 vegan, school-approved products, such as seed butters and jams, granola bars, trail mixes, crispy squares, dark chocolates and instant lattes. Their most popular products are granola bars and dark chocolates.

“We have to be super unique, but we also don’t want to be too unique where we have to educate the customer,” she explained. “We launched into categories where consumers know the product.”

For instance, jams, but with a Healthy Crunch twist, meaning reduced sugar, increased fibre, a clean ingredient deck without additives, colourings and preservatives. Another example is their nutrient-dense crispy squares instead of the full-on sugar rush that comes with typical rice crispies.

Bednarski-Malik chose this middle ground because consumer awareness takes a long time and resources. For a lean company like Healthy Crunch with only 12 employees, it’s not profitable to be launching uber niche products and spending thousands of dollars in raising awareness about new product categories.

Healthy Crunch manufactures its products out of a SQF level two certified facility in Mississauga, Ont. The products are free of 11 major food allergens, which comes out of Bednarski-Malik’s desire to make healthy eating inclusive. They have more than 20,000 points of distribution.

Healthy Crunch products are also sold in the U.S., the U.K. and the Middle East. After a decade of sustained growth, Bednarski-Malik is now ready to expand into other markets.

“There are a lot of major U.S. retailers that we want to launch into like Target and some other larger product categories too. I’m also thinking of launching into Europe, as there’s so much opportunity over there,” she said.

Bednarski-Malik strongly feels Healthy Crunch has the potential to take advantage of the whitespace in the global better-for-you category.

Sriracha is leading the charge. According to statistics from Kerry Group, 20 million bottles of Sriracha were sold globally. By 2023, that number had doubled to 40 million.

“Heat lends itself to a lot of experiential flavours, like sensory. You’re engaging sensory notes for consumers in many different products,” says Soumya Nair, global consumer research and insights director at Kerry. “Heat has always been there, but lately, it has taken more meaning for consumers, such as adventure and tasting the provenance of the spice. It’s not just chilli, or it’s not just chilli with sweet, chilli with savoury; it is chilli from a specific part of the world, a specific country. It’s travel through your taste buds. Heat has some shock value that lends itself to categories like sweet. Chilli doesn’t mean just chilli anymore. Chilli does bring in a lot more of that drama and adventure travelling through your taste buds.”

Kerry Taste Charts for 2024 outline the rising spices and interesting new heat flavours. Specific to Canada, chilli pepper has become mainstream in the past five years, along with smoked flavour and black pepper. Additional essential flavours include curry, chipotle chilli, and jalapeño chilli. Some of the fastest-growing flavours in the last three years include peri-peri, smoked paprika, smoky barbecue, Korean barbecue, spicy buffalo, sweet chilli, Indian tikka masala, habanero chilli, and Jamaican jerk. The fastest growing in the last year are increasingly complex flavours, like Sichuan chilli, turmeric, adobo, Nashville heat, pepper lemon, chimichurri, hot honey, gochujang, and mole poblano.

What demographics are driving growth in hot and spicy food profiles? “Historically, we would have said younger people are more accepting of heat, but we’ve been saying younger people are more accepting for a decade. Those young people have become older, so the hot and spicy lovers are now more experienced,” says Nair. “Boomers in the older demographic, empty-nesters, recent empty-nesters, are also open to exploring flavours. They’re the ones who typically have the disposable income to travel around the world and be exposed to so many cultures and flavours. They’re much more ready to try those spices and heat when they return home.”

Firebelly Tea offers a fennel tea with anise and chilli. Photo © Firebelly Tea

New products

The spread category is enlivened with heat, especially honey, but what about various kinds of nut butter? Dumornay Delis (dD), the Montreal-based company owned by Jason Delis and Stanley Dumornay, entered the hot-spread market with their Manba line of peanut butter after the pair travelled to Haiti for volunteer humanitarian work. The Haitian-inspired peanut butter is made from ground, roasted peanuts. The peanut butter has a hot pepper kick from Scotch Bonnet pepper.

“Manba is a natural peanut butter that’s very creamy and can be drizzled on granola or ice cream, whereas hydrogenated peanut butter has to be scooped out of the jar,” Delis explains while sharing its use beyond bread.

Boccalino began as a restaurant in Canmore, Alta., until patrons started purchasing bottles of the house Caesar and Swiss dressings faster than the team could produce. The restaurant closed, and Boccalino Fine Foods began.

“The Chipotle Caesar is our Classic Caesar recipe turned up a notch with a slightly smoky and spicy addition of chipotle pepper and spices,” says Jamie Ayles, company owner and chef. “The Mango Jalapeno marries zesty, spicy, sour, sweet, and hot to compliment fresh and crisp produce or seafood.”

Snack company NaturSource has created a spicy version of kettle-cooked praline almonds with cayenne and habanero pepper. Photo © NaturSource

Over at NaturSource, based in St. Laurent, Que., the company’s Siracha-inspired Salad Topper Sriracha Crunch is made with dry-roasted nuts and seeds. These include almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, wheat noodles, and a spice blend with a little cane sugar for sweetness.

“Sometimes even the most delicious ingredients need that extra heat,” says Mitch Oberfield, executive vice president. “Don’t limit yourself to salads: snack straight out of the bag, add it to your next wrap or sprinkle on top of staples like rice and quinoa to turn ordinary into extraordinary.”

The brand recently launched Hot Maple Almonds.

“As snacking innovators, we challenged ourselves to put a NaturSource twist on your pantry staple,” says Oberfield.

The kettle-cooked praline almonds are a protein-rich snack given a spicy kick with the addition of cayenne and habanero pepper.

Two teas, Zest for Life and Internal Combustion, from Firebelly Tea, follow the trend for heat. Founded by David Segal, who co-founded DavidsTea and Shopify president Harvey Finkelstein, the Ottawa-based Firebelly Tea is on a mission to create “premium loose-leaf tea with real flavours and real ingredients from the finest global suppliers.” The company launched in 2022 after spending 18 months developing its range of over 20 teas.

“Zest for Life is a lemon ginger green tea with chilli spice. It packs some serious heat! We made this tea for spice lovers, and each ingredient has strong health benefits,” explains Segal. “Internal Combustion is a fennel tea with a sweet and spicy balance of anise and chilli.”

For sweet heat, Hummingbird, a pure craft bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturing company in Almonte, Ont., produces a bar called Mayan. The 68 per cent single-origin dark chocolate bar has a blend of spices for a subtle heat, including cinnamon, nutmeg, and chilli.

“We craft our chocolate from sustainably sourced cacao beans in our factory rather than purchasing bulk chocolate. Our single-origin bars have just three ingredients and highlight the natural flavours and terroir of each origin,” says co-owner Erica Gilmour. “We created our Mayan spice bar to honour the origins of cacao and chocolate. This recipe includes some of the traditional spices added to the cacao drink made by the Maya people of Central America.”

The Canadian consumer demands new tastes with complex flavours and various heat levels. Brands continue to offer innovative new food and beverage products to meet this demand.

Health Canada is considering providing a one-year transition period to allow impacted beverages to be reformulated and relabelled, since the updated safety assessment did not find an immediate health concern with the current permitted use of BVO as a food additive.

As set out in Item B.3 of the List of permitted food additives with other accepted uses, BVO is currently permitted for use as a density adjusting agent at a maximum level of 15 ppm in beverages containing citrus or spruce oils, as consumed.

The modification to the list and the transition period will be announced soon. In the meantime, Health Canada invites industry stakeholders to offer feedback. It’ll accept feedback until July 30, 2024. For details, click here.

A scarcity mindset fuelled by uncertainty is driving a real desire for change among Canadians, said David Coletto, chair and CEO of Abacus Data. Cost of living, inflation, housing, and affordability are worrying Canadians, according to surveys conducted by Abacus between June 2023 and May 2024. Coletto shared that only 24 per cent of Canadians believe the country is headed in the right direction. Further, 72 per cent think Canada’s immigration targets are too high. On the bright side for the F&B processing sector, 70 per cent of Canadians support imposing a Grocery Code of Conduct.

Coletto believes this desire for change among Canadians will likely culminate in a change of government at the federal level. This was echoed by Althia Raj, national columnist, Toronto Star, and At Issue panelist on CBC. She shared with the audience the cultural, social and political anxieties (think wars, supply chain issues, inflation, etc.) that are driving this desire for change. Raj also highlighted the polarization happening in Canada and the disinformation campaigns perpetuating it: No one (read politicians) is worried about the consequences of lying or twisting facts, she said.

When giving an overview of the current economic situation, Tal was brutally candid: Canada is in a per capita recession. As widely expected, the Bank of Canada (BoC) cut interest rates by 25 basis points yesterday after four years. While this is welcome news, Tal warned that BoC must be careful and align rate cuts with the U.S. Federal Reserve System as the markets are integrated. If are rates end up lower than the U.S.’s, the Canadian dollar can crash, warned Tal.

The final speaker of the day was Ajay Agrawal, founder of the Creative Destruction Lab, Toronto. He explained the importance of companies adopting artificial intelligence (AI), a technology unique for its ability to learn and improve itself with use. Agrawal explained that at its core AI is a prediction tool, but the fascinating thing is that problems that weren’t considered a prediction issue are now being solved with prediction. For example, driving, email replies, inspection, HR, fraud detection, and translation. Ever since ChatGPT exploded on the market, governments and businesses have been trying to make sense of its potential. However, “no one knows what to do with this technology,” he said. Agrawal suggested that instead of focusing on inputs, such as how to govern the use of AI, it would be helpful to focus on outputs. For instance, set a target of using AI to increase productivity by 20 per cent with a payback period of two years. He encouraged companies to develop short- and long-term strategies. Agrawal said that while Canada was a leader in AI research, it has been a laggard in the technology’s commercial deployment. To rectify that, the Creative Destruction Lab is creating a program to accelerate the adoption of AI in food and beverage manufacturing with the help of FBO. Companies will work in cohorts and work towards improving productivity by 20 per cent without making any changes to workflow.

This year’s annual conference was attended by more than 270 industry professionals including members of Meat and Poultry Ontario, who decided to merge their annual conference with FBO.

Since March — when a highly contagious strain of A(H5N1), or bird flu, was first discovered in dairy cows in Texas — a total of 68 herds in nine U.S. states have confirmed cases of infection.

Last week, a third human case of the virus was identified in a dairy farm worker in Michigan.

So far, not a single case of the disease has been found in Canadian cows. But the possibility that it could show up here is real, said Dr. Martin Appelt, senior director of animal health programs for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

“The risk is certainly there,” Appelt said. “And that certainly puts Canadian dairy producers in an awkward position, which I fully appreciate, which is what happens if it happens?”

The CFIA is preparing for the possible emergence of cases of avian flu in livestock on this side of the border through enhanced surveillance and testing. Lactating dairy cattle being imported from the U.S. to Canada require a negative test for the virus before they can cross the border, and the CFIA is also conducting tests of milk destined for retail sale to look for traces of the virus.

While the science around avian flu and its transmission is still evolving, there are indications that the virus can replicate rapidly in the mammary glands of lactating cows, which may be why dairy cattle have proved to be particularly vulnerable to catching the disease.

Signs to watch for in dairy cattle that could indicate infection include a decrease in milk production, thicker milk consistency and a loss of appetite.

Fortunately for Canadian dairy producers, avian flu appears to only cause mild and transitory illness. And while traces of the virus have been found in the milk of infected U.S. cows, pasteurization — which is required for all Canadian milk sold in stores — has been shown to effectively kill the virus.

That means even if the disease turned up in Canadian cows, commercially sold milk and milk products would remain safe to consume, Appelt said.

In an emailed statement, the Dairy Farmers of Canada industry group said it is in “close communication” with the CFIA as it monitors the situation.

The Canadian Cattle Association, which represents beef farmers and ranchers, said in its own statement it is “watching this issue very closely.”
It remains unclear if the virus poses a threat to beef cattle, Appelt said. But he added the CFIA is working to develop a comprehensive plan that would expand the agency’s surveillance efforts beyond birds and dairy cattle to potential “other eventualities.”

“We definitely want beef producers to consider the possibility (of virus transmission),” he said.

Dr. Rob Tremblay, an Ontario-based bovine health specialist who has been advising Dairy Farmers of Canada on the avian flu issue, said farmers who are concerned about the virus can reduce the likelihood of their animals being exposed by maintaining a “closed herd” for the immediate future.

“That means don’t purchase animals, at least for the time being, unless it’s absolutely necessary,” he said.

When avian flu is found on a poultry farm in Canada, the CFIA places the farm under quarantine and orders the birds destroyed to prevent spread of the disease. (The disease spreads rapidly between birds and carries a high bird mortality rate).

When the illness appears in cattle, it tends to be milder and the animals generally recover on their own so infected cows don’t need to be culled, Tremblay said.

In addition, the World Organization for Animal Health does not recommend international trade restrictions or import bans on dairy or beef products from countries that have had cases.

Tremblay said that means if Canada were to have its own outbreak of avian flu in a domestic dairy herd, the economic implications would be less severe than certain other animal illnesses. The deadly pig disease African swine fever, for example, has never been found in Canada but a single case could result in countries around the world shutting their doors to Canadian pork products. That would not happen in the event of avian flu.

Still, for an individual farmer, a discovery of avian flu in their dairy herd would be a significant blow, Tremblay added.

“The loss of milk, the extra work, the cost of dealing with animals that are sick and the stress that’s associated with that — I think it could be personally devastating, for sure,” he said. “And it would have a financial impact at the farm level.”
— With files from The Associated Press

The low FODMAP diet temporarily eliminates the consumption of fermentable carbohydrates that can trigger digestive symptoms in individuals with IBS. Fody’s low FODMAP- and CDHF-certified products are less likely to trigger symptoms like bloating, gas, and abdominal pain. Fody’s products with the certifications include its Mild Salsa, Medium Salsa, Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce and Marinara Pasta Sauce.

“The journey to IBS symptom relief begins with diet– it’s the first stop, a controllable factor with the biggest impact on your digestive health, and we are thrilled to partner with Fody Foods to further our shared mission of enabling individuals to manage their IBS with confidence,” said Kelsey Cheyne, executive director, CDHF. “We see Fody Foods as a trusted ally and resource in IBS management, and through this alliance, we aim to reshape the narrative around digestive issues and educate Canadians on the importance of dietary choices.”

They’re free from common triggers, such as onions and garlic. The products are also certified vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free and non-GMO verified.

“We are thrilled to announce our partnership with the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation, a leading authority on digestive health in Canada, and to receive their certification,” said Steven Singer, CEO and Founder, Fody Foods. “This collaboration marks a significant milestone for us in our commitment to empower individuals to make informed choices and enjoy their favourite foods without worry.”

Earlier this month, both Florida and Arizona banned the sale of cultivated meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. In Iowa, the governor signed a bill prohibiting schools from buying lab-grown meat. Federal lawmakers are also looking to restrict it.

It’s unclear how far these efforts will go. Some cultivated meat companies say they’re considering legal action, and some states – like Tennessee – shelved proposed bans after lawmakers argued they would restrict consumers’ choices.

Still, it’s a deflating end to a year that started with great optimism for the cultivated meat industry.

The U.S. approved the sale of lab-grown meat for the first time in June 2023, allowing two California startups, Good Meat and Upside Foods, to sell cultivated chicken. Two high-end U.S. restaurants briefly added the products to their menus. Some cultivated meat companies began expanding production. One of Good Meat’s products went on sale at a grocery in Singapore.

But before long, politicians were pumping the brakes. Lawmakers in seven U.S. states introduced legislation that would ban cultivated meat, according to Kim Tyrrell, an associate director with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In the U.S. Senate, Republican Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Mike Round of South Dakota introduced a bill in January to prohibit the use of lab-grown meat in school lunch programs.

The backlash isn’t confined to the U.S. Italy banned the sale of lab-grown meat late last year. French lawmakers have also introduced a bill to ban it.

The pushback is happening even though lab-grown meat and seafood are far from reaching the market in a meaningful way because they’re so expensive to make. Cultivated products are grown in steel tanks using cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a storage bank. The cells are fed with special blends of water, sugar, fats and vitamins. Once they’ve grown, they’re formed into cutlets, nuggets and other shapes.

Companies have been heavily focused on scaling production to bring down costs and on winning government approval to sell their products.

Now, they’re also trying to figure out how to respond to the state bans. Upside Foods launched a Change.org petition, inviting supporters to “tell politicians to stop policing your plate.”

“It’s a shame they are closing the door before we even get out of the gate,” Tom Rossmeissl, the head of global marketing for Good Meat, said.

The company is considering its legal options, he said.

Backers of the bans say they want to protect farmers and consumers. Cultivated meat has only been around for about a decade, they say, and they’re concerned about its safety.

“Alabamians want to know what they are eating, and we have no idea what is in this stuff or how it will affect us,” Republican state Sen. Jack Williams, the sponsor of Alabama’s bill, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Meat comes from livestock raised by hardworking farmers and ranchers, not from a petri dish grown by scientists.”

But those within the cultivated meat industry say their products must meet rigorous government safety tests before going on sale. Their nascent industry isn’t trying to replace meat, they say, but figure out ways to feed the world’s growing need for protein.

Rossmeissl said the U.S. is currently leading the effort to develop cultivated meat and seafood, with 45 companies in the space, but that could change. In January, for example, an Israeli company received preliminary approval to sell the world’s first steaks made from cultivated beef. China is also investing heavily in lab-grown meat.

“It should be startling and concerning to Americans that we’re throwing up barriers to something that could be really important to our economy and food security,” he said.

State Sen. Jay Collins, a Republican who sponsored the Florida bill, noted that the legislation doesn’t ban research, just the manufacturing and sale of lab-grown meat. Collins said safety was his primary motivator, but he also wants to protect Florida agriculture.

“Let’s not be in a rush to replace something,” he said. “It’s a billion-dollar industry. We feed a ton of people across the country with our cattle, beef, pork, poultry and fish industries.”

Rossmeissl thinks the meat industry is trying to avoid what happened to the dairy industry after the introduction of plant-based alternatives like oat milk. Plant-based milk made up 15 per cent of U.S. milk sales last year; that’s up from around six per cent a decade ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Good Food Institute, an advocacy group for plant-based and cultivated products.

Meat producers did back the bans in Florida and Alabama. The leaders of those states’ cattlemen’s associations – which are advocacy groups for ranchers – stood next to both governors as they signed the bans into law.

But the picture is more complicated at the national level, where the meat industry doesn’t support bans on cultivated products. Some meat producers, like JBS Foods, are working on developing cultivated meat of their own.

“We do not support the route of banning these outright,” Sigrid Johannes, the director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said. “We’re not afraid of competing with these products in the marketplace.”

The Meat Institute – which represents JBS, Tyson and other big meat companies – sent a letter to Alabama lawmakers warning them that the state’s ban was likely unconstitutional since federal law regulates meat processing and interstate commerce.

The founders of Wildtype, a San Francisco-based company that makes cultivated salmon, travelled to Florida and Alabama to testify against the bills but weren’t able to sway the outcome. They hope someone will challenge the bans in court but say it’s not realistic for their tiny company to take on that battle.

“We are David and on the other side of the aisle there is a gigantic Goliath,” Wildtype co-founder Arye Elfenbein said.

AP Writers Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida; Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; and Jonathan Mattise in Nashville contributed.

“These recommendations aren’t just good for the ocean and waterways, but good for fishing families and coastal nations who rely on salmon for their livelihoods,” said Lasse Gustavsson, Ocean Wise president and CEO.

British Columbia’s salmon industry holds significant economic power in Canada, with annual sales averaging between $150 million and $250 million. However, buyers struggle to differentiate between sustainable and unsustainable options.

“Ocean Wise is in a unique position to leverage its Rapid Assessment Standard and Salmon Advisory Panel to ensure responsible fisheries receive the recognition they deserve. These new recommendations simplify the choice when purchasing salmon, empowering businesses, and consumers to support local, ocean-friendly fishers. In an especially complex case like B.C. salmon, this is even more important,” said Samantha Renshaw, Ocean Wise science lead.

The health of B.C. salmon populations varies from year-to-year. Standard Ocean Wise seafood assessments typically take roughly one year to complete and remain valid for up to five years after the fact.

“The Ocean Wise Rapid Assessment Standard is nimble enough to adapt to the annual variations of [B.C.] salmon in a way that compliments other systems that look at longer-term population trends,” said Dave Moore, Authentic Indigenous Seafoods Co-operative and member of the Ocean Wise Salmon Advisory Panel. “Many Indigenous communities can see the importance of evaluating sustainability of [B.C.] salmon in this way because it regularly considers both salmon abundance and diversity, thereby preserving the tapestry of environment, culture, and economy that is central to all salmon ecosystems as well as those that depend upon them.”

All three Prairie provinces have a rich food and agri-food heritage. Food and beverage processing sales across the Prairies were $32 billion in 2021, representing approximately 25 per cent of Canada’s total food production that year. In Alberta, “food processors are active in meat products, grain and oilseed milling, snack foods, functional foods, natural health products, beverages, and more,” according to Invest Alberta. The province has a strong agritech ecosystem and a labour force with vast technical expertise. The Institute of Cellular Agriculture, created in conjunction with New Harvest Canada and Cult Food Science, will be located at the University of Alberta’s Agri-Food Discovery Place in Edmonton.

Alberta

Sustainability is a priority in the Prairies’ food innovation landscape, and Calgary’s Earthware Reusables, Inc., is one of many companies focused on eco-friendly solutions for the food industry. The company offers a return-for-reuse container service and is currently developing durable and UV-resistant hemp reinforced polypropylene composite for vacuum forming of reusable food containers.

“Our incredible growth is set to multiply exponentially this year with a new business model made possible by an agreement with the Alberta Bottle Depot Association,” says John MacInnes, founder of Earthware. “This is the big break that we needed to hit our vision of scaling to 1 million containers in circulation by 2025.”

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is the world’s largest pulse sector, making Regina a natural choice as headquarters of the Protein Industries Canada (PIC) supercluster. Additionally, the provincial government reports there are more than 300 food and beverage processing companies in Saskatchewan producing cereal, meat, dairy and bakery products, plus food ingredients. Saskatchewan’s tech sector is also booming, driven in part by the agtech market. In fact, says Innovation Saskatchewan, the province’s technology sector generated $10 billion in revenue and represented 5.6 per cent of the province’s total GDP.

BetterCart Analytics, based in Saskatoon, offers an AI-driven competitive pricing intelligence solution designed for food and beverage manufacturers and grocery chains. The company offers real-time, hyper-local price analytics and competitive intelligence that helps companies increase profit margins, operational efficiencies, and ROI.

“Seventy per cent of CPG manufacturers operate without analytics,” says Melanie Morrison, founder and CEO of BetterCart Analytics. “As a result, the industry is in need of innovation, especially when it comes to the development of pricing technologies. Our mission is to help those companies that have limited access to pricing data and competitive intelligence so they can digitally transform, execute data-driven pricing decisions, and unleash their competitive advantage.”

Manitoba

Food and beverage processing is the largest manufacturing sector in Manitoba, comprising more than 30 per cent of the province’s total manufacturing sales in 2022. Manitoba also boasts 24 world-class agri-food research and development centres focused on everything from plant-based proteins to digital transformation.

TheoryMesh is helping food businesses achieve sustainability goals with digital solutions. The Winnipeg-based company employs blockchain applications to ensure traceability and transparency in the supply chain and is currently working to create a beef and dairy supply chain that connects from feed to consumer while providing data-driven insights designed to drive efficiency and sustainability.

“Improving the food supply chain is an imperative to feed the world and reduce the impact of agriculture and food waste on the environment,” says TheoryMesh CEO Chris Bunio. “Our company has moved quickly in less than two years to create solutions, which address critical needs in the market. We will continue scaling the company and expand our customer reach to Europe, Africa, and Asia.” 

Hubba Khatoon is regional innovation director for the Prairies for the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN). CFIN funds foodtech projects, stimulates collaboration, and fosters a growing community of F&B professionals. Visit CFIN at www.cfin-rcia.ca.

This column was originally published in the April/May 2024 issue of Food in Canada.

The Innovation Booster funding recipients are:

Project Lead: ThisFish (British Columbia)
Project Title: TallyVision: Automating Seafood Inspection with Computer Vision Technology
Funding: $99,256

TallyVision is a new product by ThisFish that uses smart cameras and computer vision to automatically inspect seafood in processing plants. The Innovation Booster project aims to integrate TallyVision into sorting and grading equipment and to develop new computer vision models to estimate fish or fillet weights from images, classify salmon fillet colours, and identify new species. The end goal is to use advanced computer vision to improve inspection accuracy and consistency, while automating sorting to reduce labour costs in seafood factories.

Project Lead: Knead Technologies (Alberta)
Project Title: Scaling & Quantifying Food Rescue
Funding: $96,628

Knead Technologies will launch six-month pilots with nine food sustainability agencies to validate and test their food rescue life-cycle management platform. They aim to refine the product based on pilot feedback, optimize its performance, and build a scalable infrastructure that can handle the demands of the commercial market. The goal is to transform the platform from a promising idea into a community-focused impact driver that can be commercialized worldwide.

Project Lead: Skygauge Robotics (Ontario)
Project Title: Drones for Large Food Processing Tank Inspections
Funding: $95,237

Skygauge Robotics is using drone technology for ultrasonic inspection of food processing assets. Food processors regularly inspect assets like storage tanks and process piping for integrity. Skygauge’s drones replace the need for manual inspections done by teams on ropes, cranes, or scaffolding, which will significantly reduce time, carbon emissions, and costs by up to 90 per cent. The funding will help develop a 360-degree inspection capability based on direct customer feedback from early adopters in the food processing industry.

Project Lead: Local Line (Ontario)
Project Title: Local Food Sourcing Network (The Network)
Funding: $94,957

The Local Food Sourcing Network is a platform that connects national wholesale buyers to local food vendors to enhance the agility and adaptability of the food supply chain. The platform integrates digital procurement solutions for seamless coordination of wholesale sourcing, purchasing, verification, invoicing, payment, monitoring, and reporting from various local suppliers. These innovations enable wholesale buyers to scale their local sourcing, diversify suppliers, validate ESG commitments, and meet growing consumer demand for locally sourced food. By addressing the logistical challenges faced by large businesses like Chipotle and Roche Bros, who are beta users of the platform, the technology can be adapted for different procurement volumes, increasing the availability of local food in Canada and beyond.

CFIN’s Innovation Booster provides funding and support to SMEs to help them accelerate product development, overcome innovation hurdles, and validate market fit. During this ninth round of Innovation Booster funding, CFIN received 30 applications from across the country. In total, 45 Canadian foodtech companies have received $3,800,784 from this program since 2021. Across all programs, CFIN has awarded more than $19.5M to 69 Canadian foodtech projects.

“These projects represent CFIN’s commitment to driving innovation in the food industry. Canadian foodtech companies are leveraging transformative technologies and strategic partnerships to revolutionize how food is sourced, inspected, and managed, ultimately leading to a more sustainable and efficient food supply chain,” said Dana McCauley CEO, Canadian Food Innovation Network.

Held on June 19, 2024, at the Storys Building in Toronto, Ingredients for Success aims to equip F&B SMEs with the tools and strategies they need to succeed in a competitive market.

The event will feature presentations and panel discussions on business excellence, ongoing issues with productivity, and product development. There’ll also be micro-mentoring sessions with peers on a range of issues like strategic planning, market understanding, financial management, operational efficiency, team building, and marketing.

Don’t miss this opportunity! Be empowered to make the right decisions for your business.

For more information and register, visit www.i4s.foodincanada.com.

“Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals,” said DeSantis. “Our administration will continue to focus on investing in our local farmers and ranchers, and we will save our beef.”

In addition to options that address medical nutrition needs, this project will create products for the active living and high-performance sports markets. The end products will contain a novel plant-based protein ingredient blend with high functionality and taste quality, reformulated from a past project.

The total project will see $5.4 million invested into the development, reformulation and commercialization of three consumer-ready protein products: a modular, a ready-to-mix and a ready-to-drink low-volume liquid protein. Protein Industries Canada will invest $2.3 million, with the partners investing the remainder.

“These innovative companies are rising to the challenge to provide Canadians with alternative options that offer exceptional health and nutritional benefits,” CEO of Protein Industries Canada Bill Greuel said. “With the support of the Global Innovation Clusters program, our partners are collaborating to bring important new products to the market that will offer Canadians a more diverse selection of protein-rich food choices to help them manage health challenges, as well as support a healthy lifestyle.”

Building from EMN and Gruppo Nutrition’s previous project of creating the original ingredient blend, this project will reformulate the blend using new inputs of yellow pea and canola protein isolates, while also researching other potential protein isolate options, such as hemp and sunflower. EMN and Gruppo Nutrition will collaborate with Acenzia to optimize manufacturing processes, to expand their consumer-ready products within current and new markets. This commercial scaling will allow for a larger return on investment for the consortium, product end-users and the sector.

The brand, first launched in 1949, has also added a new variety of microwaveable cups to the Minute Rice lineup – Mexican-style rice.

Photo © Meg Moon

“Minute Rice’s new campaign and refreshed packaging embody the timeless essence of the brand while embracing the contemporary needs of today’s consumers,” Garima Jain Patodia, senior brand manager of rice portfolio for Riviana said.

“The brand relaunch not only reflects our commitment to quality and convenience but also demonstrates our dedication to ensuring Canadians can enjoy reliable and fulfilling meals, whether they are cooking for themselves, their family or even hosting friends,” she added.

Patodia further said the brand recognizes that Canadians are changing, and they are focusing on the needs of the younger generation.

“Gen-Z and millennials are going into new life stages and have more purchasing power…our instant and microwavable cups fit right into their lifestyles,” she said.

Photo © Meg Moon

Minute Rice organized an intimate dinner at Patois in downtown Toronto to celebrate the brand’s relaunch. CTV’s Milk Masters’ judge Chef Craig Wong fused his signature Caribbean and Asian dishes with Minute Rice’s kitchen staples and created dishes Like Pearl Siu Mai Dumplings, Crispy Hoisin and Sesame Chicken Wings, Oxtail Gravy Glazed Spiced Ham Musubi, Honey And Maggi Beef Short Ribs, Juicy Jerk Chicken, Popcorn Shrimp Fried Rice, Jamaican Coleslaw and Yeast-Raised Beignets.

“Minute Rice is such a great product because you’re never going to end up with something overcooked or undercooked…all the hard part is done for you,” Wong said.

“I (am) proud of Ranger. He fused the rice into rum, and it had all the nuttiness from sesame and a bit of mango. You can do anything that you want with this product and it’s really fun to cook with at the same time,” he added.

Photo © Meg Moon

Michael Ranger, bartender at Patois, created ‘The Patois Minute’ cocktail made with Minute Rice-infused rum, sesame, coconut, mango and nutmeg. Other beverages in the drinks menu were Patois Rum Punch cocktail, Domaine Gayda Syrah-France red wine, Domaine Gayda Viogner-France white wine, Red Stripe beer and Fresh Jelly Coconut and Jamaican Soda in non-alcoholic drinks.

“Formulations for baked goods can be complex. When the goal is to make a baked good with fewer ingredient, it’s important to understand how the ingredients work together and the process necessary to achieve the product’s desired taste, texture, and colour,” said Jane Dummer, registered dietitian, consultant and a Bakers Journal columnist.

The ultimate goal when producing a baked good with limited ingredients is being able to maintain the taste and texture that consumers crave.

“Taste and texture are critically important for bakery products for acceptance by consumers who are looking for healthier products but are not inclined to give up their desire for ‘healthy indulgence.’ Thus, formulators need to make sure that the solutions they provide to improve nutritional profiles meet customer expectations,” said Kyle Krause, Beneo regional product manager, functional fibres and carbohydrates, North America.

Quality over quantity

It is not uncommon to flip over a packaged good to review the ingredients and find a handful of unpronounceable ingredients listed. Often, these long words are shelf stabilizers, texturizers and preservatives used to maintain the product so consumers can enjoy a tasty and safe treat. Given consumers are opting for healthy food without preservatives, it’s valuable to dig into how to manufacture delicious baked goods with limited ingredients.

“Simple and few ingredients could deliver a flavourful, nutritious product with optimal texture,” said Katie Thomas, corporate communications manager, Mondelez Canada. “We always start with our consumers and a back-to-basics approach where you think about how to achieve your goal using the fewest ingredients, like you would in your own kitchen.”

Délices Sublimes produces dry mixes of muffins, cookies, brownies, cake, and energy balls that are naturally sweetened. Photo © Délices Sublimes

Bake profile

Thomas explained that the process of creating a recipe with fewer ingredients boils down to simple ingredients and augmenting recipes to ultimately deliver one that fulfils consumer expectations.

“When developing products with limited ingredients, bake profile can be used to decrease the amount of shelf stabilizers needed,” said Thomas.

Bake profile, also known as thermal profiling, is a baking process for optimization and control. A thermal profile helps ensure food safety and regulatory compliance. It also helps improve product texture, quality, and shelf life by monitoring aspects like yeast kill, bake out zone, product temperature arrival and colour development.

Ease risk of errors

When working with fewer ingredients, it is easier to correct a misstep, thanks to the simple nature of the baked good.

“If a bakery is creating a baked good from scratch, the positive thing about fewer ingredients is that if one ingredient is improperly scaled and added at the wrong time, it is easier to problem solve that formulation compared to a formulation with many ingredients,” said Dummer. “Simplified blends and mixes of dry ingredients can ease the on-site labour and risk of errors, as bakeries reduce the total ingredients in their products and create new ones.”

Julie Barbeau Capruciu, ND, president of Délices Sublimes, believes in using basic ingredients that naturally have long shelf lives. Photo © Délices Sublimes

Dry mixes

A popular growing-alternative is direct-to-consumer dry mixes made for baking at home. Companies such as Second Spring Foods in Seaforth, Ont., create options like organic banana bread mix with no additives, artificial flavours, or preservatives.

“It’s a question of using ingredients that have a long and natural shelf stable life to start with,” said Julie Barbeau Capruciu ND, president of Délices Sublimes, a small business that produces dry mixes of muffins, cookies, brownies, cake, and energy balls that are naturally sweetened.

Capruciu is a naturopath by training and passionate about nutritious food. When she was pregnant with her third child, she developed pregnancy diabetes. She then decided to sweeten snacks for her and her family by adding fruit and vegetable purees in addition to using organic whole grains, naturally rich in protein and fibre.

“I am trying to promote real food with basic ingredients that people all know,” said Capruciu.

Vegan, gluten free and reduced sugar

For vegan options, breads are relatively straightforward to create using only plant-based ingredients, however, baked goods are often reliant on eggs and dairy ingredients like butter, and this can be more complex, explained Dummer.

“There have been helpful advancements with pulse ingredients over the past five years. For example, the industry has seen positive developments in egg replacers available. As a result, improved ingredients and ingredient technology can remove the trial-and-error testing for the processor. Gluten-free ingredients have seen improvements as well. Specifically, when it comes to gluten-free flour options available (for example, sorghum) and flour mixes and how these flours and mixes work with fewer ingredients to achieve the anticipated textures and tastes, while boosting the nutrition in gluten-free bread or baked goods,” said Dummer.

Beneo offers a prebiotic chicory root fibre, oligofructose, which is a soluble fibre and can be incorporated into a variety of baked goods. It can increase fibre content while allowing manufacturers to reduce the sugar or fat content of their products.

“Thanks to the technical properties of chicory root fibre, producers can develop products without compromising on taste and texture. This soluble fibre can stabilize water into a creamy structure, mimicking fat, important for fillings,” said Krause. “Additionally, the humectant properties of oligofructose allow for moisture retention in baked goods like muffins and cakes while also delivering sugar-like flavour and mouthfeel.”

Chicory root fibre also allows for easy processing without changing production processes. At only 2 kcal/g chicory root fibre enables food manufacturers to produce reduced-calorie and fibre-enriched versions of traditionally indulgent baked goods and snacks such as cereal bars, baked goods, and fillings.

Keep it simple

Ultimately, if the goal is to produce a baked good with fewer ingredients and maintain a flavourful profile—the standard is, use simple and quality ingredients.

When unusual flours and ingredients enter the mix, it can be counterintuitive as some flours require a much more rigorous processing cycle. While crafting baked goods with limited ingredients requires a thoughtful approach that balances flavour, texture, and nutritional aspects, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

Today, many organizations are trying to change the way Canadians think of seal meat. For one, Canadian Seal Products (vendors of seal oil, meat, and fur), is promoting the industry with the help of a digital and social media campaign entitled, “Good for you. Good for the environment,” that encourages Canadians to consider the benefits of seal products.

One of the goals of this campaign is to put seal meat back on the menu here in Canada. Currently, seal meat is only available in some parts of the country, and few consumers know how to cook it or turn it into a meal.

In Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, seal meat processing companies are producing seal burger patties, sausages, pepperettes, and smoked flipper. Photo © Carino

“This is a very dark meat,” explains Romy Vaugeois, program manager at Canadian Seal Products. “When people see it for the first time in a grocery store, and they’ve never tried it, it’s hard for them to want to buy it.”

The solution, Vaugeois explains, is to promote seal meat with restaurant owners, because consumers are more likely to want to try something new when dining out. “Seal meat is more readily available in restaurants in Quebec, where it has been served for many years, often as an appetizer, so people can try it,” she adds. “It’s especially popular with restaurants that like to work with local ingredients.”

Seal meat is also available in some fish markets, but only seasonally. “A number of distributors are already established in Quebec,” Vaugeois explains, “so restaurants can call distributors directly to place their orders.”

Seal meat producers have an uphill battle when it comes to creating widespread consumer acceptance for a rare wild game meat. Photo © Benoit Lenglet

Seal meat producers

According to Vaugeois, seal meat is currently being produced by five Canadian companies, all located in Newfoundland or Quebec. These include Ár n-oileán Resources, Boucherie Côte-à-côte (only sell within Quebec), Carino Processing, Mi’kmaq Commercial Fisheries, and Reconseal Inuksiuti (Indigenous owned, they provide seal meat mostly to Inuit communities in Ottawa and Montreal).

Although seal meat is available in a growing number of restaurants and retailers within Quebec, it’s more difficult to find in other provinces. The best way to purchase seal meat as a distributor in regions other than Quebec is to contact one of the manufacturers listed above.

Seal meat is available as either a loin or a flipper. “The loin is much easier to cook,” Vaugeois says. “It’s like wild game meat, and it has a slight iodine taste, so you don’t want to overcook it.” The flipper, on the other hand, is a tough muscle, and Vaugeois recommends using it in stews and soups where it can be cooked for longer periods of time. Seal meat is also available in processed forms, including seal burger patties, sausages, pepperettes, smoked flipper and more.

The loin is offered in two versions, adult and veal. According to Vaugeois, who says she has eaten lots of seal meat, the veal tastes a lot like beef. “You would barely be able to tell the difference, if it’s processed properly,” she says. The adult loin, on the other hand, because it’s a bit older, tends to be more gamey, and Vaugeois compares the taste to moose.

Seal loin meat can be turned into ground meat, added to a traditional spaghetti recipe, or used to make burgers and sausages. Photo © Les Iles en Ville

Preparing seal meat for sale is complex and requires expertise and know-how. “The meat has to be placed in seawater for more than 24 hours for the blood to drain,” she explains. “You also have to remove the fat because it will oxidize and give you a fishy taste.”

Fortunately, seal meat producers are more than happy to process the meat properly and remove all the fat before shipping the various cuts to their customers.

Once delivered, the loin can be prepared the same way one would cook filet mignon, Vaugeois explains. “You can also turn it into ground meat, put it in your traditional spaghetti recipe, or make burgers or sausages,” she adds. “It’s similar to preparing other types of meat.”

Historically, seal meat wasn’t always consumed cooked. “The Inuit eat it raw,” Vaugeois says. “They also put it in soups, and they have their own recipes.”

Photo © Caribou Gourmand

Multimillion dollar market

Prior to the 1987 ban on harvesting seal pups, seal meat was big business. It’s still worth millions of dollars annually today, Vaugeois explains, but mostly because of the value of the fur, and the seal oil, which is a great source of Omega-3 oils.

The actual edible part of the animal (loin and flippers) is only a small fraction of the total weight of each seal. “The meat only represents about five or six per cent of the total weight of the animal,” Vaugeois explains. “Most of the weight is the fat and the fur.”

Retail cost for the loin (veal or adult) is between $70 and $80/kg, and Vaugeois says that it’s very lean meat with very little fat and no bones. The flippers are much more affordable, and retail for about $40/kg.

While organizations like Canadian Seal Products are eager to boost sales of seal products, some communities simply couldn’t live without it. “For many who live in the north,” Vaugeois  explains, “it’s a matter of food security. In Nunavut, Labrador, and other northern countries like Greenland, importing proteins like pork and poultry is much less sustainable, and much more expensive than seal meat.”

In Canada’s north, she adds, where store-bought meat is costly, a single seal can provide the equivalent of $200 worth of meat, or more, to a family, while providing a much higher nutritional value.

A study conducted in 2012 estimates that there were over 40,000 seals harvested per year in Nunavut, and that the replacement food value of seal meat was worth approximately $5 million. At the time, seal skin products were worth an additional $1 million to the arts and crafts sector of the Nunavut economy.

Photo © Chinched Bistro

Benefits of seal meat

Packed with minerals and vitamins, low in fat and high in healthy Omega-3 oils, seal meat is Canada’s superfood, according to Vaugeois. “It’s also the only wild game meat that can be legally sold throughout Canada,” she adds.

When you consider the health benefits of seal meat, as well as the benefits to local economies in northern parts of Canada, it’s clear that this is an important industry and that there’s potential for growth.

Even so, seal meat producers have an uphill battle as they endeavour to change popular opinion. “We are still dealing with pushback,” Vaugeois admits, “but we see great improvement from a decade ago. Due to all the propaganda from animal activists and all the trade restrictions and misinformation arising from this propaganda, it will take us several years to rebuild the seal industry.”

That’s according to industry experts, including Bill Greuel, CEO of Protein Industries Canada, a not-for-profit that receives funding from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to invest in plant-based food and ingredient manufacturing.

There’s a lot of work being done in Canada to improve things like the meltability of plant-based cheese and the texture of plant-based meat, said Greuel in an interview at Plant Forward in Toronto, a conference focused on the plant-based food sector.

“Canada’s making great strides,” Greuel said, calling price, taste and texture the “Holy Trinity of consumer needs.”

Inflation and higher interest rates have made consumers more sensitive to price differences, he said, and therefore less willing to try plant-based meat alternatives.

In addition to innovating on the taste and texture side, the industry needs to build up its manufacturing and processing capacity in Canada to help address the price differences between plant-based meat and its conventional counterparts, said Greuel.

“Our belief is that if we create scale in ingredient manufacturing, that’s going to provide more options to food manufacturers, more options to consumers,” he said. “And that’s our path to relieving some of the inflationary pressures in the plant-based food side, is scaling up ingredient manufacturing in the country.”

The economic outlook for the plant-based protein industry was the subject of a presentation at the conference by two speakers from Ernst and Young.

Huzaifa Akhtar, economic advisory vice-president, and Mauricio Zelaya, partner and national economics leader, told conference-goers that businesses in the industry are working on multiple fronts to stay ahead of the curve.

This includes improving existing products and looking into new ones, said Akhtar.

“We’re really seeing that huge push for innovation across the board,” she said.

It’s also important for companies to mitigate potential supply chain disruptions by near-shoring — meaning seeking suppliers closer to the business — and diversifying the sources of their input crops, she said.

Over the longer term, Greuel said there’s still lots of growth predicted for the industry, though not at the steep rate previously thought.

Companies like Beyond Meat were all over the news when they launched products, including in major fast-food chains, that promised to mimic the taste and texture of a beef burger, but the initial excitement has faded in recent years and resulted in a stock price slide.

Ambitions for growth in the plant-based protein industry have been pared back, Greuel said.

“At the start of COVID, we were seeing compound annual growth rate in the double digits,” he said. “Now, we’ve had a market correction, and I think rightfully so.”

Recent estimates are more conservative at about six to eight per cent, he said. “That’s still significant.”

Scaling up manufacturing and processing in Canada is challenging, however, as the projects require a lot of growth capital, said Greuel.

“The cost of an ingredient manufacturing facility is measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s very hard to finance in the traditional (venture capital) models that we have in Canada,” he said.

“The other issue is that they can’t finance an entire processing facility with debt financing from traditional markets because the cost of debt servicing becomes too high.”

That’s why it’s important to find ways to incentivize more private-sector investment, said Greuel.

Regulations are also a key concern, he added, as it takes much longer in Canada to get novel foods approved versus the U.S. — sometimes several years longer.

While the latest federal budget makes mention of “regulatory sandboxes” to help businesses boost innovation, Greuel said “those are all things we’ve heard before.”

Ecoation Innovative Solutions has won the Deep Space Food Challenge with their CanGrow Modular Food Production System, and will receive $380,000 in grant funding as the grand prize winner.

Ecoation CEO Saber Miresmailli said the news was “fantastic,” but what made him feel even more proud was that his idol, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, announced the company’s victory.

Hadfield was a jury co-chair with the Deep Space Food Challenge.

Miresmailli said his team aims to make astronauts feel like they are dining out in a five-star restaurant with a menu that features steak substitute, a mixed salad and fresh strawberries for dessert.

“Part of the challenge was to go through a series of tests to make sure that the food that you produce is not only nutritious but it’s also tasty,” said Miresmailli, adding that they aren’t just providing concepts to judges but are also a food production company.

Miresmailli said they even did a blind test with judges, inviting them to taste meat made with mushroom and real meat, but they couldn’t tell the difference.

A joint statement from the Canadian Space Agency and NASA said the company’s CANGrow system has the potential to sustain astronauts during long-duration missions into space, while also addressing food security in isolated communities on Earth.

The challenge was launched in 2021 in collaboration with NASA.

The Canadian Space Agency said in a statement that jury members highlighted the quality of the projects submitted, saying the solutions could make a real difference in the capacity to sustain long-duration missions in space.

The CANGrow unit is the size of a wardrobe and operates on standard 120-volt power. It has the potential to generate over 700 kilograms of nutrient-dense food every year, including strawberries, dwarf cherry tomatoes, and the root of a fungus that becomes a meat substitute.

The CANGrow system has five chambers, four equipped with LED lights to support plant growth. Its fifth chamber grows a protein-rich mushroom-forming fungi.

The last thing astronauts need to be worried about is spending time growing these crops in space, said Miresmailli, who described his team as space farmers.

He said the team can use artificial intelligence to remotely look after and grow the plants from Earth, adjusting temperatures and growing conditions.

Miresmailli said the Canada Space Agency has been helping them throughout the three-year journey to the prize, and he’s encouraged to see the judges not only love their invention but also their food.

He said the grant money will be used to “compensate” team members who have been pouring their efforts into the unit.

He also hopes the technology won’t just benefit astronauts but people in Northern Canada where weather conditions aren’t always suitable for producing fresh food.

After hitting a record $165 billion in food and beverage manufacturing sales last year, 2024 is expected to see sales moderate in sync with slowing inflation and tighter household budgets.

Despite sector-specific headwinds and changing consumer shopping habits, the overall outlook is more positive. Population growth and stabilizing input costs are two reasons for expecting margin improvement in 2024.

“High inflation and interest rate increases over the past two years have put pressure on household budgets, leading to changes in consumer spending habits,” said FCC chief economist J.P. Gervais in highlighting the evolving consumer landscape. “As a result, Canadians spent less on average on food and beverages in 2023.”

“While changing shopping habits may pose challenges, they also present opportunities for food and beverage manufacturers,” said Gervais. “Taste remains the top consideration for consumers, but price sensitivity has increased, leading processors to innovate and meet evolving consumer demands.”

“FCC Economics is projecting a slight decrease of 1.4 per cent in food and beverage manufacturing sales for 2024. However, we anticipate gross margins to improve by 1.7 per cent on average. One wildcard in our forecasts is the resilience of the U.S. economy, which could lead to growth in exports,” added Gervais.

Many commodity prices have declined which will work their way through the supply chain. These trends are anticipated to continue, boosting margins in 2024.

The report forecasts a decrease in the inflation rate for food purchased at grocery stores, falling below two per cent this spring and stabilizing around pre-pandemic levels thereafter.

“While challenges persist, 2024 holds promise for Canadian food and beverage manufacturers,” said Gervais. “By adapting to changing consumer preferences and leveraging opportunities presented by population growth, the industry can navigate the year ahead with cautious optimism.”

The annual FCC Food and Beverage Report features insights and analysis on grain and oilseed milling; dairy, meat, sugar, confectionery, bakery and tortilla products; seafood preparation; and fruit, vegetable and specialty foods, as well as soft drinks and alcoholic beverages.

It’s neighbour Ivory Coast, which is the world’s largest cocoa producer, also raised its farmgate price to 1,500 CFA francs per kg, up from 1,000 CFA francs last season.

Per AfricaNews, major confectionery companies like Hershey, Nestle, Mondelez, and Barry Callebaut, buy cocoa from Ivory Coast.

The webinar was moderated by Food in Canada’s editor Nithya Caleb.

It was sponsored by BioMérieux.

To access the full recording, visit https://www.foodincanada.com/webinar-series-session-1/.

The webinar was moderated by Food in Canada’s editor Nithya Caleb.

It was sponsored by BioMérieux.

To access the full recording, visit https://www.foodincanada.com/webinar-series-session-1/.

The webinar was moderated by Food in Canada’s editor Nithya Caleb.

It was sponsored by BioMérieux.

To access the full recording, visit https://www.foodincanada.com/webinar-series-session-1/.

The webinar was moderated by Food in Canada’s editor Nithya Caleb.

It was sponsored by BioMérieux.

To access the full recording, visit https://www.foodincanada.com/webinar-series-session-1/.

The beverages come in three flavours: Original, Vanilla and Chocolate. They are the only gluten-free oat beverage with a Canadian Coeliac stamp, ensuring safety for the concerned consumers, Natura said in a news release.

The whole gluten-free oats are sourced exclusively from the Canadian Prairies. The gluten-free oats are cooked whole, and without the use of concentrates, protein extracts or isolates, ensuring a minimally processed beverage, the company said.

The recipe calls for only vegan ingredients which are also soy-free, dairy-free, and nut-free, catering to a wide range of dietary preferences and needs.

The drinks are versatile, suitable for use in coffees, everyday recipes and in a nice glass of milk. They are also available in a 200-millilitre format, suitable for lunchboxes and snacks on the go.

Find our oat drinks in 946-ml and 3 x 200-ml formats at retailers throughout Canada, including online platforms like Amazon.

“Supporting local is at the heart of what we do. By choosing Natura, consumers not only enjoy a superior taste experience but also contribute to the growth of Canadian businesses and communities,” said Ignace Daher, vice-president of sales for Natura.

Here is a sampling of what the industry event has in store this year:

RC Show presents a lineup of some of the leading industry experts to discuss the latest bar research and consumer data, the future of spirits and beer, and the evolving role of bartenders and sommeliers. Guests can gain insight from a variety of panels including a beer leadership panel and Canada’s best bars presented by American Express Canada.

Speakers and panelists include:

Andre Hueston Mack, bar keynote speaker, recently proclaimed “one of wine’s most inspiring people,” is a true wine Renaissance Man. After leaving the corporate world and working his way to Head Sommelier at Chef Thomas Keller’s 3 Michelin-starred Per Se restaurant before once again making a radical change and founding Mouton Noir Wines (now Maison Noir).

Michael Tremblay, Founder and SSC Instructor, Sake Scholar, and Nancy Matsumoto, author of the James Beard Award-winning book Rice Water, Earth: Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake, present an overview of the basics of sake: what it is, how it is made, and how to serve and drink it, as well as the back story on how the book went from an idea to a published reality.

Scaling of Bar Concepts includes panelists Chantelle Gabino, Beverage Manager, Recipe Unlimited; Robin Goodfellow, Owner, Vela & Little Bones Beverage; and Brian James, CEO, Warm Welcome. The group will engage in a discussion on how growing beyond a single location can be more than a daydream. Sharing tactics and tips for scaling up operations and turning your idea into a solid strategic plan. From changes in decor to tweaks in your bar program, if you’re thinking about expansion, this panel is for you.

Competitions

The Beyond the Rail Competition presented by Beam Suntory, is back hitting the Bar and Beverage Stage on Monday, April 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. This year’s competition focuses on “leveling up” the art of hospitality with Canada’s top bartenders pairing up in teams and being tested on not only their creativity and bartending skills, but also scaling up craft cocktails for large scale events and operations without sacrificing service for a chance to win $5,000.

Hosted by the Canadian Chapter of the Specialty Coffee Association, the RC Show is bringing three national coffee championships to the bar and beverage stage this year. Watch some of Canada’s most talented baristas craft masterpieces in the Latte Art Championship, observe true innovators creating unique coffee cocktails in the Coffee in Good Spirits Competition, and join in making history at Canada’s NEW Cezve/Ibrik Competition. The champions of these events will advance to represent Canada at the World Championships in Copenhagen.

Workshops and masterclasses

RC Show Bar & Beverage Ambassadors Christina Veira and Evelyn Chick are curating sessions and workshops that touch on the state of Canada’s bar and beverage scene. Programming will also include Aperitivo Hour But Make It All Day, Data, Not Vibes: Building Successful LTOs in Coffee, Dairy Farmers of Canada:

Mocktails & Cheese, Exploring Coffee Versatility: A Masterclass, Sake and the Umami Factor, Elevation without Pretension, Whisky and Cheese, Ontario Cider and Corks & Grooves, The Vinyl Revolution In Bars and more.

One-stop pop-up experience

Visit RC’s Pop Up Experience where food and beverage innovation comes alive. Taste, learn and connect through intimate hands-on workshops, savour curated sips and bites, and check out the latest equipment and technology. Inspired by and/ore restaurant’s signature palette and featuring original artwork by artist Tisha Myles of New Love Collective, the RC Pop Up Experience features a visually stunning setup that will immerse guests in an atmosphere of creativity and innovation. Indulge in alcoholic and non-alcoholic creations by renowned mixologist Abigail Rubiales from and/ore, and taste Molson’s newest brew, Madri Exceptional Spanish beer.

Visit the pop-up bars, curated by RC Show’s Beverage Ambassadors Veira and Chick, where you can enjoy drinks and find inspiration from Canada’s leading bartenders. They will present their distinctive methods for crafting menus and blending flavours to create delicious cocktails and mocktails. Featured bars from Canada and the United States include:

• Clive’s Classic Lounge, Victoria
• Bar Bello, Montreal
• Bar Pompette, Toronto
• Keefer Bar, Vancouver
• Happy Accidents, Albuquerque
• Bar Mordecai, Toronto

For more information on this year’s event, visit rcshow.com.