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APRIL/MAY 2024 • VOL. 84, ISSUE 2
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give Canadian beverage makers a competitive edge From improved productivity to product diversification, many things are possible when applying robotics in
the bar in
beverages Functionality mapping can be used to bridge the foaming and stability gap between dairy and plant-based dairy barista beverages
dark chocolate, already a confection sector powerhouse, is evolving
Adapting food production to the rise of weight-loss medications
According to a recent study published in the Lancet, over 1 billion people worldwide struggle with obesity. This makes it the most common form of malnutrition. In Canada, about one in four adults, around 26.6 per cent, live with obesity. So, it’s not surprising that the global market for weight-loss drugs like Ozempic is booming and expected to reach $100B by 2035. These medicines are known to reduce food cravings. An early study by Numerator in the U.S. found that consumers using glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) medicines for weight-loss were spending less on packaged bakery, snacks, prepared foods, and beans and grains.
Are we seeing the end of growth as we know it or is there an opportunity for F&B manufacturers? This question was the focus of our webinar on “The Ozempic Effect.” Moderated by Food in Canada’s editor, Nithya Caleb, webinar attendees heard from industry experts Jo-Ann McArthur, president and founding partner, Nourish Food Marketing; Ricky Silver, CEO, Daily Harvest; and Jane Dummer, RD, food consultant.
“We think that with increased availability of these drugs, total calorie consumption will start to go [down]. F&B manufacturers need to at least have it on their radar and do some scenario planning,” said Jo-Ann.
Food consumption trends Ricky said convenience really matters
for consumers. He also believes people want something that’s objectively good for them. He felt there will be overall growth, but it’ll come in different ways.
If you’re not offering convenience and not connecting back to how consumers feel after eating your food, then it’s going be harder to win in this industry, he warned.
From a wellness perspective, Jane highlighted consumers desire betterfor-you products as well as nutrientdense foods, especially snacks that are convenient, delicious, and affordable.
Impact on food consumption
A registered dietitian, Jane offered a holistic picture of how these medicines work. While originally designed for diabetes, we’re seeing people use GLP-1 medicines for weight-loss. These medicines actually mimic the GLP-1 hormone that’s naturally secreted in our bodies to help release insulin and suppress hunger.
“If the medicine is working, people will be consuming less. They’ll be craving less [food] as their stomachs will be emptying at a slower pace,” she said.
Jo-Ann urged people to be more mindful of what they’re consuming, as they’re eating less. You’ve got to make sure “every one of those calories does almost double duty” as well as getting rid of empty calories such as sugary or alcoholic beverages.
Jo-Ann mentioned there’s a role for manufacturers to play not only when
Nithya Caleb
consumers are having GLP-1 medicines, but also during the pre- and postmedicine use phases. In her view, people may use these drugs occasionally to get their weight within recommended limits.
Product innovations
The focus must be on “palatable, nutrientdense foods that people can afford,” said Jane. Manufacturers should consider offering hi-protein products with a good mix of amino acids to counteract muscle waste due to rapid loss of weight with these medicines, she recommended.
Jo-Ann spoke about creating foods with a function especially protein-rich products to preserve/increase muscle mass. She also felt portion sizes are going to be important. Hence, there’s an opportunity for frozen foods where it’s easy to control portion sizes.
“Food is also about joy. So how do you preserve the joy in eating? There’s this tiny treat culture. How can you serve up those tiny treats that still bring the joy in food because eating should not be a chore,” she stressed.
“Certainly brands and manufacturers should look at it as an opportunity. Not as an endpoint to something, but rather as a new opportunity to support consumers in a different way,” added Ricky.
This webinar was sponsored by BioMérieux.
Nithya Caleb ncaleb@annexbusinessmedia.com
Unilever exiting ice cream business
Unilever is separating its ice cream business and focusing on four core business groups across beauty and well-being, personal care, home care and nutrition with complementary routes to market, R&D, manufacturing and distribution systems. The company’s board believes its ice cream business has a very different operating model, and future growth will be better delivered under a different ownership structure. The business has five of the top 10 selling global ice cream brands including Wall’s, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s. Unilever is also cutting 7500 jobs globally as part of its company-wide restructuring plan.
News> file
U of G scientist develops cocoa butter alternatives
Chocolate prices are soaring. A University of Guelph team is working on solutions that could potentially transform the chocolate industry. Dr. Alejandro Marangoni, professor in the Department of Food Science and the Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Aging, is researching on ways to eliminate multi-step tempering, a costly and lengthy process of repeatedly heating and cooling melted chocolate in large machines to create the ideal structure. His team has also been developing cocoa butter alternatives that have similar textures and melting points as chocolate but do not contain dangerous trans fats. The team uses non-cocoa sources, such as shea butter, oils from marine algae and palm oil mid fractions.
Hain Celestial names new president, North America
The Hain Celestial Group appoints Chad Marquardt as president, North America. In this role, he will be responsible for leading strategy and execution in the U.S. and Canada and will be instrumental in delivering the company’s multi-year Hain Reimagined strategic transformation. Reporting to Hain’s president and CEO
Wendy Davidson, Marquardt will be an appointed executive officer and will serve on the executive leadership team.
Meet winners of Food Waste Reduction Challenge
Loop Mission and Still Good win this year’s Food Waste Reduction Challenge in the Business Models Streams. Loop Mission is a Montreal-based circular economy company that creates products from food that would otherwise go to waste, like cold-pressed juice. With support from the Challenge, Loop Mission will scale its Loop Synergies line—ingredients made from rejected food. Based in Montreal, Still Good develops business solutions for companies to transform nutrient-rich by-products that would otherwise go to waste to new food products, through a holistic approach called eco-valuation. With support from the Challenge, Still Good will scale its business model to create eco-valuation or upcycling hubs across Canada. Both companies will each receive a grand prize of up to $1.5 million.
New project launched to develop hi-protein ingredients
Protein Industries Canada launches a new project to help meet the growing need for hi-protein ingredients, with a co-investment from partners Burcon NutraScience, HPS Food & Ingredients and Puratos Canada. Burcon will be offering hemp protein isolate, sunflower protein isolate and sunflower protein concentrate. In partnership
with Burcon, HPS will assess hemp crop varieties to determine which are best suited for the new ingredients, while also developing, commercializing, and scaling the technology needed to process the hemp into above-mentioned ingredients. Further along the value chain, Puratos and Burcon will each focus on using the hemp and sunflower ingredients in new food and beverage products, particularly baking applications, beverages, and meat alternatives.
Changes to compositional standards of grain, bakery products recommended
The Baking Association of Canada, the Canadian National Millers Association and the Canadian Pasta Manufacturers Association are asking the federal government to change compositional standards of some grain and bakery products. They also request the government to consider exempting naturally occurring contaminants from paragraph 4(1)(a) of the Food and Drugs Act, as “grain products naturally contain certain contaminants that are inherent to the environment.” The associations recommend new compositional standards for semolina and durum flour and whole grain whole wheat flour in order to distinguish it from whole wheat flour. They also recommend removing Vitamin B White Flour (Canada Approved) from the list of compositional standards, as it has become obsolete.
Alcohol excise tax capped
The federal government caps the annual alcohol excise tax increase on beer, spirits and wine at two per cent for an additional two years. The alcohol excise tax was set to rise on April 1 by 4.7 per cent, which was tied to inflation. Excise duty
Jonathan Rodrigue, co-founder and CEO of Still Good.
rate on the first 15,000 hectolitres of beer has also been cut in half for two years.
Made in USA rule concerning for Canada
The U.S. rules voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in USA” labels on meat, poultry and egg products can only be used when they are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States. The rule will take effect in 2026. This is disappointing for Canada. In a joint statement, Canada’s Agriculture Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, and International Trade Minister Mary Ng said Canada is “reviewing the final rule carefully.” “Our indispensable relationship allows producers, processors and consumers on both sides of the border to benefit from efficient, stable and competitive markets, while ensuring a reliable supply of high-quality products,” the statement said. “Canada remains concerned about any measures that may cause disruptions to the highly integrated North American meat and livestock supply chains.”
Califia Farms embraces recycled PET bottles
Califia Farms is transitioning all of its bottles in the U.S. and Canada to 100 per cent recycled plastic (rPET). This will help reduce the company’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 19 per cent and cut its energy use in half. Califia Farms clarifies that the plastic cap and sleeve don’t use 100 per cent rPET materials.
Rate of factory gate price increases slowing Factory gate prices haven’t increased drastically, compared to 2022, reveals a recent study by StatsCan. The Industrial Product Price Index, which measures the change in prices received by food producers at the factory gate, shows prices received by the food manufacturing sector changed little in December 2023 compared with December 2022 (+0.8 per cent). From December 2021 to December 2022, prices increased 11.1 per cent. According to the study, prices received at the factory gate by grain and oilseed milling manufacturers declined 9.1 per cent year over year in December 2023,
which is significant considering that costs were up by 25.5 per cent in May 2022. Seafood processors received 1.9 per cent less at the factory gate in December 2023 than the same month the previous year. Prices received at the gate by fruit and vegetable processors increased 1.2 per cent year over year in December 2023. Over the same period, meat product manufacturers as well as bakeries and tortilla manufacturing experienced a 5.1 per cent yearly gain in factory gate prices. Dairy product manufacturers (+1.8 per cent) saw a modest yearly increase in prices received in December, while those in other food manufacturing received 3.2 per cent more at the gate.
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Hygiena’s method for detecting Escherichia coli O157:H7/NM in raw meat products receives Health Canada approval. The BAX System Real-Time PCR assay for E. coli O157:H7 Exact has been granted inclusion in the Compendium of Analytical Methods, identified as MFLP-115. The system offers quick detection of the pathogen. www.hygiena.com
Skytree introduces direct air capture unit
Skytree launches the Skytree Stratus, a decentralized direct air capture (DAC) unit for onsite carbon capture and utilization in greenhouses and vertical farms. The Skytree Stratus unit can generate as much as 2750 lb of CO2 per day. Stratus is available in hybrid and all-electric-powered configurations. www.skytree.eu
GEA releases real-time monitoring solution
GEA launches a new cloud-based web application for food processing and packaging lines. The GEA InsightPartner provides immediate access to historic and realtime equipment data. It uses machine data to provide flexible responses to production challenges. It helps identify performance improvements and extend asset longevity. www.gea.com
TUsing case studies to inform risk assessment methodology
Dr. Amy Proulx
he apple sauce and cinnamon incident in the United States raised many concerns about how risk is approached for safety and integrity. When assessing risk within typical food safety management system, we were trained to the same classic hazards. The vocabulary is changing, and it is important to reflect on the implications of each category.
Food risk refers to the likelihood of harm occurring due to consuming a particular food product. Food risk assessment involves identifying potential hazards, evaluating their likelihood and severity, and implementing measures to mitigate them.
Food fraud involves the intentional deception for economic gain, where food products are adulterated, mislabelled, or misrepresented. This deception can occur at any stage of the supply chain and may involve dilution, substitution, or addition of unauthorized substances.
A food threat typically refers to deliberate acts or intentional contamination of food with harmful agents, such as toxins, chemicals, or biological agents, with the intent to cause harm to consumers, disrupt food supplies, or instil fear.
Food vulnerability refers to the susceptibility of the food supply chain to various risks, threats, and vulnerabilities that may compromise its integrity, safety, and security. This includes weaknesses in infrastructure, processes, and control systems that can be exploited by malicious actors or natural events.
All of these food risks work in interacting ways. The cinnamon and apple sauce incident certainly struck fear into many consumers’ minds. It was a case of fraud because lead chromate was used as
an adulterant to increase the weight of cinnamon for sale.
Assessing risk
Risk assessment methodology requires an approach similar to HACCP hazard identification and risk assessment but may require extension of the boundaries of the assessment. It is up to individual organizations to determine what the boundaries of control can be. For some, those boundaries extend one supplier back. With access to blockchain traceability, boundaries of control can extend potentially even farther back all the way to the primary producer.
Within supply chain mapping, each node in the map can be assessed for possible hazards, followed by strategic planning within the quality management system for identification, mitigation, and elimination of each hazard.
Part of the challenge is that there is not a one size fits all response to risk assessment. If we were the apple sauce manufacturer, how would we assess the
risk on the cinnamon? We must use a systems-based approach and multiple directions to comprehensively reduce or eliminate risk.
Supplier verification is common in all HACCP-based food safety management. Performing third-party audits or inspections can be part of that, but can an auditor observe a fraudulent action at the time of occurrence? Certificates of analysis are another important part of risk assessment. Extending blockchain traceability to these certifications could be critical. It’s not uncommon for these certificates to be performed on very low frequency on certain commodities because of the high cost of analysis. I’ve personally seen certificates of analysis results being pushed forward to new lots without new assessments.
Integrity of the transportation and shipping of products is also essential. Purchase orders and bills of lading used to be only text based, but it is now possible to put physical images of shipments into this documentation for identifi-
cation on receipt. Tamper evident and traceable shipping seals are becoming common. The Use of RFID tagging on shipments is also becoming commonplace, so that shipments travel exactly to the specified destination.
Possible tests
Should we instead focus on incoming goods testing especially to prevent fraud? Cinnamon, for example, is prone to fraudulent substitution by other brown plant materials. DNA fingerprint assessment would the prime method in such cases. However, DNA testing would not pick up lead or other heavy metals contamination that would be measured by atomic emission spectroscopy. Are there better methods such as FTIR, which will speed systems? Each FTIR requires calibration to the commodity, but this could be an important approach. It would be
In the risk assessment process, piracy, global conflict, climate change and environmental disaster are impacting the integrity of food systems.
costly to require these assessments on every lot though.
One part of risk assessment is exposure evaluation. It’s not uncommon for companies to look at minor ingredients and validate against the certificate of analysis, then assume that hazard exposure is low because of the dilution effect of ingredients. It’s common to find low levels of
lead in commodities from agricultural contamination. In the case of the apple sauce, exposure was higher than assumed because of reliance on convenience food for small children. These affected children were consuming the product with higher than anticipated frequency. Dilution effects for hazard reduction are a slippery slope and should be avoided.
Our perception of risk is changing. In the risk assessment process, piracy, global conflict, climate change and environmental disaster are impacting the integrity of food systems. Using case studies such as the apple sauce recall allows us to plan better for future incidents.
Dr. Amy Proulx is professor and academic program co-ordinator for the Culinary Innovation and Food Technology programs at Niagara College, Ont. She can be reached at aproulx@niagaracollege.ca.
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IA bit of regulatory housekeeping
Gary Gnirss
n November 2023, proposed regulations were published in Canada Gazette I, which would see a significant reconsolidation of federal food compositional standards, modernization of food additive rules and its associated documents incorporated by reference (IbR), and modernization of analytical methods. It is a bit perplexing to see federal food standards in both the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR), and those IbR by Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR), particularly when they cover the same food. This is because Canada had several federal food regulations in the past. Since food standards are also tethered to food additive rules, it becomes a more complex process to consolidate standards. The current FDR differentiates the use of food additives based on whether a food is standardized or unstandardized. Chutney is unstandardized under FDR but standardized by SFCR. This means chutney may include food additives that are permitted in unstandardized food, but pickles may only include those permitted in pickles.
New compositional standards
The proposed approach to modernizing food standards involves the creation of Canadian Food Compositional Standards, which would be IbR by FDR, and administered by CFIA in regard to a food’s composition, strength, potency, purity, quality or other property of standardized foods. Health Canada would retain health and safety criteria for foods in FDR. The dream of consolidating federal food standards has been around since CFIA’s creation in 1997. The proposed plan would not result in a single reference document. FDR would retain rules
The totality of the proposed amendments to FDR, SFCR and the documents IbR represent decades of pentup regulatory housekeeping needs.
related to analytical criteria and nutrient composition and Canadian Food Compositional Standards would include the trade and commerce criteria.
Food additives
Health Canada is also working towards reconfiguring food additive rules. The current 15 food additive tables (collectively the Lists of Permitted Food Additives) that are IbR by 15 marketing authorizations (MAs) would be consolidated in an IbR document directly under FDR. The 15 MAs would be repealed and vestigial tables that have been codified in FDR since 2012 would be repealed. The food additive tables would be updated in tandem with the changes to food standards.
Division 16 of FDR, which sets out the core framework for food additive rules, would be modified to include other food additive related rules, such as those around sweetness and colour additive. The use of food additives would be defined as an adulteration except if in compliance with Division 16, FDR. The definition of ‘food additive’ would also be amended. Currently, ‘essential oils, oleoresins and natural extractives’ are considered food additives. This will change. Only ‘spices,
seasonings and flavouring preparations’ would be exempt. This establishes that only ‘natural extractives’ used for flavouring wouldn’t be considered as food additive.
Food additives are currently required to meet applicable specifications in the Food Chemicals Codex, Combined Compendium of Food Additive Specifications or that defined in B.01.045, FDR, for certain food colours. This is limiting, as several newer food additives, such as modified vinegar, do not have specifications in these references. To overcome this, Health Canada proposes to create an IbR Table of Food Additive Specifications to allow a more efficient and clear approach to amending the food additive rules in the future.
Health Canada has also proposed to modernize Official Methods and how they may be used in ensuring compliance with FDR for certain microbiological, chemical, physical and/or nutritional requirements. Three new microbiological IbRs are proposed—Table of Microbiological Criteria for Food; Table of Microbiological Reference Methods for Food; and Canadian Requirements for Determining the Equivalence of Food Microbiological Methods of Analysis. A new IbR Table of Chemical, Physical and Nutritional Characteristics of Food will include a more flexible approach in selecting suitable methods for compliance assurance purposes. Some of the current methods are dated, such as Official Method FO-1 from 1981 that speaks to protein quality determinations. Changes here would impact food standards and even nutrient content claim considerations.
The totality of the proposed amendments to FDR, SFCR and the documents IbR represent decades of pent-up regulatory housekeeping needs. But brace yourself, as more is on the way.
Gary Gnirss is a partner and president of Legal Suites, specializing in regulatory software and services. Contact him at president@legalsuites.com.
CExploring the Prairies’ food ecosystem
Hubba Khatoon
anada’s Prairie region has an enviable reputation worldwide for the high quality of its agricultural products, from Albertan beef to wheat from Saskatchewan, and Manitoba’s wide variety of pulses and grains. With these agricultural strengths, it’s not surprising that the region is a centre of technical expertise and a growing foodtech innovation ecosystem, with a focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship, data analytics, and digital business solutions.
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
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 datadriven 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.
Canada’s Prairie region has a rich food heritage and a growing reputation as a centre of foodtech innovation.
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
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.
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ICollaborating and supporting Canada’s Zero Plastic Waste Plan
Carol Zweep
n the past several years, there have been numerous Canadian government initiatives to address plastic waste. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) put forward a Canada-wide Strategy and Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste in 2018 and 2019 that takes a circular economy approach to plastics. This plan was adopted by federal, provincial, and territorial governments. Keeping all plastics in the economy and out of the environment will involve activities such as prevention, collection, clean-up, and value recovery.
In 2022, CCME released “A Roadmap to Strengthen the Management of Singleuse and Disposable Plastics”. The Singleuse Plastics Prohibition Regulations, which was published in June 2022, prohibits the manufacture, import and sale of single-use plastics (e.g. checkout bags, cutlery, foodservice ware, ring carriers, stir sticks and straws). In November 2023, the Federal Court overturned the ban on single-use plastic based on the decision that the classification of plastics was too broad to be listed on the List of Toxic Substances in Schedule 1 under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. In April 2023, the Recycled Content and Labelling for Plastic Products Regulations were proposed alongside the release of a paper outlining reporting requirements to the Federal Plastics Registry. The proposed regulations would require minimum levels of recycled post-consumer plastics in packaging (food contact packaging excluded except for beverage containers) and require accurate information on recyclability labelling and restrictions on the use of the term, ‘compostable.’ Provinces and territories are looking to expand recycling
collection programs to support these regulations, which include developing and implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies. The EPR approach makes the producer responsible for the collection and management of packaging at the end of life. The Federal Plastics Registry will require producers of certain categories of plastics to submit annual reports with information on plastic product resin types and amount of plastic waste sent to disposal.
P2 Notice
To continue bringing forward new measures to manage plastic waste, the federal government introduced a consultation document regarding a proposed pollution prevention notice (P2 notice) to reduce the environmental impact of primary food plastic packaging. The notice would require large grocery retailers in Canada to prepare, implement, and report on a pollution prevention plan to reduce plastic waste and shift to a circular economy. The goal of the P2 notice is to reduce primary plastic food packaging by eliminating unnecessary/ hard-to-recycle items. All companies along
the entire value chain (retailers, producers, and brand owners) would need to work together to meet the P2 notice objectives. Initial input from stakeholders on the consultation document ended on August 30, 2023. The government is analyzing the comments and continues to welcome additional feedback as the P2 notice is developed. A draft P2 notice will be issued for public comment before finalization.
The many new policies and regulations are complex with nuances that are providing real challenges to the food industry. These challenges are being addressed by designing packages for recycling or reuse, improving recycling system infrastructure, and increasing the availability of more recycled food-grade plastic resin. The P2 notice is part of federal government’s ambitious Action Plan of Zero Plastic Waste. Collaborative effort along with support from all levels of government, industry and citizens is needed to achieve a circular economy with less plastic waste.
Carol Zweep is the research lead, packaging, at Conestoga Food Research & Innovation Lab, Conestoga College.
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Canadian manufacturers SPICE UP the F&B industry
Dive into the fiery world of Canadian foods and beverages as complex heat flavours dominate new product offerings
— BY KAREN BARR —
Heat is trending from mild to ghost pepper hot. What is changing in the Canadian food industry is the complexity of heat-flavoured products. New items are continually developing to satisfy the Canadian consumer’s curious palate.
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,
Hummingbird’s Mayan chocolate bar has a blend of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and chilli for a hint of heat.
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.”
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.”
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.
Above: Firebelly Tea offers a fennel tea with anise and chilli. Right: Snack company NaturSource has created a spicy version of kettle-cooked praline almonds with cayenne and habanero pepper.
“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.
Robotics give beverage manufacturers a competitive edge
From improved productivity to product diversification, many things are possible when applying robotics in processing facilities — BY EMILY NEWTON —
Many Canadian beverage makers are looking for new ways to increase their competitiveness, and some are considering robots. These machines can streamline operations by complementing human productivity, reducing error rates, and allowing companies to diversify their product lines.
Robot utilization on the rise
When Canadian decision-makers weigh the pros and cons of adding robots to their workflows, many wonder if these advanced machines can fit into their budgets. Fortunately, some robotics vendors prioritize affordability in their business models.
For example, Formic Robotics is an Illinois-based company that offers by-thehour contracts that allow manufacturers to pay for their robots only after they’re installed and operational. According to a report in the Wired, Polar Manufacturing, which uses Formic’s technology, found the solution costs the equivalent of US$8 an hour to run, making it less expensive than hiring a person to do the job.
Additionally, statistics published by the International Federation of Robotics in 2024 showed the world hit a record of 3.9 million operational robots in 2022. The
report indicated the world average for robot implementation is 151 machines installed per 10,000 employees. However, Canada’s rate is slightly higher, at 198 robots per 10,000 workers.
Since robots are becoming more affordable and easier to obtain, some Canadian beverage manufacturers are beginning to realize investing in these machines could help them stay competitive in a challenging and changing market. Some can also gather real-time analytics from the machines and use the statistics to achieve continuous improvement.
Achieving better output
Some decision-makers choose robots to help them with repetitive tasks, such as
bottling. That approach gives them better consistency, and allows factories to boost overall output.
In 2023, Coca-Cola announced a $70 million investment for a Calgary bottling plant. It will result in a new high-density warehouse on an existing property, and the building will have the company’s first automated storage and retrieval system. The 60,000-sf warehouse will have enough room to store 19,000 pallets of products.
Some Canadian brewers have also budgeted for robotic canning solutions. Ross Alger, owner of Alberta’s Confluence
Trendi’s autonomous mobile freeze-drying unit upcycles fruits and vegetables considered unfit for sale into smoothies and powders. Photo
PALAIS DES CONGRÈS DE MONTRÉAL
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15 MAY 2024
Distillery, uses a 14-sf machine that can fill 45 cases per hour. He appreciates how the robot’s compact size supports his company’s output.
He says employees only need to can a small percentage of the overall product amount made yearly and do it just a few times per month. That meant a larger system didn’t make sense from a floor space or financial standpoint.
Tackling labour shortages
It’s also becoming more common for people in the beverage industry to rely on robots for moving heavy loads, such as cartons and pallets of ready-to-ship drinks. Self-driving forklifts reduce the number of people
needed to do those jobs while minimizing injuries. Ontario’s Cyberworks Robotics provides technology that turns manual tow tugs and forklifts into fully automated vehicles without changing a facility’s infrastructure. The company received $227,946 from the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) to pilot test their technology in a live F&B facility.
Tow tugs and forklifts usually require humans to steer and pull them. However, labour shortages make it difficult to fill these handling-related manufacturing roles. A June 2023 Canadian labour market report found many respondents are anticipating challenges related to finding and keeping employees. Among the surveyed
Cyberworks Robotics’ autonomous self-driving technology automates manual tow tugs and forklifts without making any changes to the infrastructure of a facility.
groups, manufacturing businesses were most likely (over 48 per cent) to expect issues around finding skilled workers.
Self-driving robots can’t wholly solve this issue. However, they can certainly help by accomplishing tasks with fewer people and easing the challenges caused by personnel absenteeism due to injury or other issues.
Reducing manufacturing waste
As consumers and producers alike become more focused on waste reduction, many are interested in making new, viable products from ingredients that are generally discarded. Ontario’s Dairy Distillery makes vodka from milk permeate, a dairy industry byproduct. The company invested in a partially automated solution to improve its labelling process. Its previous equipment had a 50 per cent error rate, and employees needed at least five minutes per bottle to fix the issue if they noticed it during packaging.
The company now uses a machine-vision camera system that automatically detects the label’s elements and shows the manufacturing worker a real-time image on a grid. That person uses those details to
Photo
ensure they place the label squarely on the container. This approach addresses wasted time and labels. Another aspect of the company’s automation investment involves a quality control app that automatically recognizes in-tolerance label positioning and assigns a pass or fail grade.
Some manufacturers also use other hightech solutions, such as sensors that can tell when food has spoiled or is in an environment where spoilage will happen without proactive measures.
Vancouver-based Trendi is a robotics and agritech startup that uses a different method of waste reduction. Its system consists of two main components. The first is BioTrim, an autonomous mobile freeze-drying unit that converts fruits and vegetables unfit for sale
in their current conditions into shelf-stable products. These units can be used onsite, at manufacturing plants or farms. The second aspect of the business model is the Smoothie Machine. This automated vending device uses upcycled produce to create smoothies on demand.
These examples are only a sampling of the exciting things possible when Canadian manufacturers apply robots to their beverage-making processes. Individuals interested in taking similar approaches in their factories will get the best results by customizing their efforts according to goals, plans, budgets, and current workforce size.
They should not consider a small production output an automatic barrier to robot use. After all, Dairy Distillery produces a relatively small average of 1,500 bottles per day, but leaders there still found various processes to automate. Decision-makers should also set and track metrics to keep everyone motivated and working toward the same goals. These strategies increase the chances of successful robotics integrations.
Formic Robotics offers by-the-hour contracts, which allows manufacturers to test out at the technology in an affordable manner.
Raising the foam of plant-based beverages
Functionality mapping can help bridge the foaming and stability gap between dairy and plant-based dairy barista beverages — BY
ALEXANDRA
An increasing number of consumers are seeking plant-based alternatives that meet the functionality and flavour aspects of their animal-based counterparts, particularly when it comes to plant-based milk products. For example, a high-performing plant-based barista beverage is demanded by consumers due to the recent rapid growth of specialty foamed coffee beverages. However, there is a major functionality gap between dairy and plant-based commercial barista offerings. The structure of dairy proteins allows for formation of stable, pourable microfoams that are perceived as ‘creamy’ and can carry flavour without imparting off notes or textures.
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 dou-
ble-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.
HALL, PHD —
Functionality mapping can help product developers better understand ingredient structure-function to create a creamy plant-based barista milk solution.
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,
A functionality
mapping approach
can
progress ingredient structurefunction understanding and catalyze the development of novel plant-based food and beverage applications.
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.
MAKING CHOCOLATE HEALTHIER
How dark chocolate, already a confection sector powerhouse, is evolving to gain further ground —
BY TREENA HEIN —
Real chocolate is quite popular as a healthy treat, as it contains lots of antioxidants and healthy fats. For some time, there has been “a very strong demand for high quality chocolate made with clean and quality ingredients,” explains Linda Seiler, VP-business development at Galerie au Chocolat in St. Laurent, Que. “Many informed consumers are checking ingredient decks for artificial flavours, poor-quality fats, preservatives, emulsifiers and other sketchy ingredients.”
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.”
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
Many chocolate companies are finding success with minimal or no added ingredients in their bars.
Companies like Daniel Chocolates in Vancouver are differentiating themselves by manufacturing chocolate with allnatural ingredients.
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.
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.
Suzanna Dalrymple prefers to focus on the big picture as she takes on challenges in the Canadian dairy industry — BY JACK KAZMIERSKI —
Suzanna Dalrymple was appointed CEO of Gay Lea Foods just over a year ago, in February 2023. Although she is new to Gay Lea Foods, her experience in the food industry goes back more than 25 years, and includes almost two decades with Proctor & Gamble, as well as a handful of years with Mars.
“I was drawn to Gay Lea Foods for many reasons,” she says, “one of which is the fact that’s it’s a co-operative, and that’s something that really appealed to me, having worked in big multinationals for over two decades.”
Dalrymple’s previous experience with a private company, as well as a large public company, helped her see the difference a co-operative like Gay Lea Foods can make.
“Gay Lea measures success not only by the value that we create, but also the value that we give back,” she says. “We’re really committed to finding the right balance between delivering performance, developing our people, and doing right by our community. That was really appealing as I was thinking about my next move.”
Gay Lea Foods’ rich history was also appealing to Dalrymple.
“I feel really privileged to be working for a business that was started in 1958 by a group of dairy farmers, who for generations, through hard work and
determination have built Gay Lea into a sizeable and meaningful business that’s really committed to furthering the dairy industry.”
Dalrymple is well aware of the bigger picture that defines what Gay Lea Foods values as an organization.
“It’s a great opportunity and a great responsibility,” she explains. “I don’t know if I feel more or less pressure working for a group of dairy farmers, but it’s all about how we stay true to our values, and how we make smart decisions that will ultimately lead to a better tomorrow, so that we can have a home for our members’ milk and build a sustainable and growing dairy industry.”
Walking the talk
According to Dalrymple, as a co-operative, Gay Lea Foods is focused on more than just the next quarter. “It’s really rooted in the values of balancing profits, the people, and the planet,” she says. “I think a lot of companies nowadays talk that way, but Gay Lea has been committed [to this philosophy] for generations, and Gay Lea really does make a difference, does think about long-term sustainable growth and the impact on communities, in almost equal measure.”
Like any other segment of the economy, the dairy industry is facing several challenges, including trade issues and the need for innovation. These issues, how-
ever, don’t intimidate Dalrymple. Rather, she feels energized, excited and is eager to tackle them head-on.
“I’m in year one of our five-year strategic plan,” she says. “I’ve got a lot of heavy lifting to deliver the next five years, and I’m doing it with a great team. So that’s my focus. It’s still early days, and I’m excited about what we’ve been able to accomplish in a short period of time. It’s been great working with both the board of directors, as well as the management team and all the employees. I’m excited about seeing all this through.”
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SUCCESS THROUGH INNOVATION
Brent Cator never stops experimenting and launching new meat processing techniques
— BY TREENA HEIN —
Innovation, respect, determination. These are some of the words that sum up the phenomenal success of Cardinal Meats under the leadership of president and CEO Brent Cator, following in the footsteps of his father Ralph and grandfather Jack. Cardinal Meats currently makes over 250 products for its own brand and private labels, equally serving the restaurant and retail markets.
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.”
Touching people’s lives with products that impact them in a positive way—this is among the most critical daily commitments of Rachel Ferdinando, president of PepsiCo Foods Canada (PFC).
“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 Can-
ada, 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.”
Discover how PepsiCo Foods Canada’s president is championing her frontline employees and fostering a culture of inclusivity — BY TREENA HEIN —
Rachel Ferdinando.
DESTINED FOR A CAREER IN CPG
Even as a child, Ellen Thompson knew the industry she wanted to work in
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BY JACK KAZMIERSKI
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While most children dream of growing up to become an astronaut, a firefighter or a doctor, Ellen Thompson, general manager of Mars Wrigley Canada, seemed to be focused on consumer packaged goods (CPG).
“I’ve always been interested in the CPG industry—ever since I was a young kid,” she admits. “When I was nine years old, I sent ad campaign ideas and product recommendations to some of my favourite toys and treat companies, and luckily, they engaged and responded to me. I loved the idea of improving products to make them more enjoyable for me and my friends. At the time, I wasn’t thinking too much about it, but it was ultimately the foundation of my passion for consumers. So, it’s only natural that this enthusiasm led me to the CPG industry.”
Despite her enthusiasm for the industry, Thompson’s journey from nine-year-old corporate advisor to GM of Mars Wrigley Canada was anything but a straight line.
“I started my career in a completely different industry, but I could never replicate the excitement and enthusiasm that I found as a nine-year-old passionate about consumer products,” she says.
While she enjoys the diversity the CPG industry offers, she definitely has a favourite. “I’ve been with Mars for 13 years and have always felt passionate about my
work, whether it’s ice cream, pet care or confectionery,” she explains. “But I must say, the great thing about coming back to confection is I get to be both a marketer and a consumer of what we produce. And personally, I love sharing the products with my kids and seeing their excitement for the brands.”
Understanding the consumer
In addition to a degree in general management and marketing, Thompson also has a degree in psychology, which she says has helped her better understand consumers.
“I’ve found that my psychology degree has helped immensely throughout my career,” she says. “In an industry where consumers have such personal memories and feelings tied to the products, it’s especially
important to understand what drives them, what brings them joy, but also what turns them off.”
This understanding of human psychology, she adds, has also helped her better manage employees.
“True leadership is all about understanding people, figuring out what you can do to support them, helping them achieve their goals and ambitions, and taking care of the whole person,” she says. “And just as in marketing, understanding motivational triggers is very helpful in not only getting the best out of your team, but also in fostering and retaining your talent.”
Challenges and opportunities
Thompson is well aware of the pain today’s consumers experience when they see the price of groceries edging upwards, week after week.
“In our industry and beyond, affordability is top of mind for everyone,” she says. “We make every effort to minimize costs to provide a full range of delicious products while making sure we preserve both the value and quality of our iconic brands.”
While affordability will continue to be an issue with consumers, Thompson is committed to navigating the choppy waters ahead.
“My goal is for Mars to lead the pack and show the industry what’s possible when you lead with purpose, never compromise on quality and centre your decisions around consumer insights,” she concludes.
John MacQuarrie is delighted to work for an organization that shares his values
— BY JACK KAZMIERSKI —
John MacQuarrie, director of environmental sustainability operations, Cavendish Farms, is one of those rare individuals who has never ‘worked’ a day in their life because his career path has allowed him to follow his passions: agriculture and the environment.
Growing up, he remembers spending the summers working on his grandfather’s farm. Later on, he pursued a master’s degree in agricultural science from McGill University in Montreal. After graduating, he worked in the PEI Department of Agriculture and eventually he became the deputy minister for the department. And for the past seven years, he’s been the director of environmental sustainability operations at Cavendish Farms.
A changing industry
Over his many decades in the industry, MacQuarrie has seen agriculture change and evolve. One of the biggest changes, he says, is today’s focus on sustainability.
“Historically, we were focused on production,” he explains. “It was all about how much can we produce per square acre. But today, our customers want to know how the food was grown. They’re as concerned about sustainability as they are about the quality of the product.”
MacQuarrie says that the industry’s focus on sustainable food production is the reason he joined Cavendish Farms. In fact, he was hired to fill a newly created position dedi-
cated to the environment and sustainability. Cavendish Farms has customers all over the globe, and MacQuarrie says that a growing number of these customers are looking at the bigger picture.
“They want to know how we are engaging with farmers to help them farm more sustainably, what we’re doing to measure our own greenhouse gas emissions, and how we plan to reduce those emissions,” he says.
Two decades ago customers weren’t asking these questions. “Today they are, and that’s why Cavendish Farms needed to have someone who can stay focused on the matter,” MacQuarrie says.
ESG reports
Running a successful food production operation today is about more than simply offer-
ing the best price for a pound of produce. It’s also about explaining how that produce was grown and harvested.
“One of our challenges is simply keeping up with our customers’ demands for more and more information,” MacQuarrie explains. “Our ESG [environment social governance] reports cover all aspects of our business, and one of our goals is to package this information in an efficient manner that answers our customers’ questions and concerns.”
Economic benefits
Sustainability and economic benefits go hand-in-hand, MacQuarrie says, which is why he’s determined to help farmers see the economic benefits of managing their crops responsibly.
What’s good for farmers, is good for Cavendish Farms, and MacQuarrie argues that sustainability can benefit companies financially.
“When we use our resources, like water and fuel more responsibly, and we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we see an economic benefit,” he adds.
One of the reasons MacQuarrie was first attracted to Cavendish Farms, he says, is that their commitment to the environment and to sustainability is real.
“Some workplaces talk a lot about values,” he says, “but at Cavendish Farms, it’s more than just a poster on a wall. That’s why I feel so lucky to work for an organization like this.”
John MacQuarrie.
Her love for product dev. benefits Nortera
Adeline Mabilat has a wealth of experience in international marketing
— BY MARK CARDWELL —
As an active wife and mother of two young daughters, Adeline Mabilat cares about the quality of food her family eats. And as Nortera’s national brand manager, retail, for Del Monte Canada, she’s thrilled to have led the development of a new snack food that’s “good for people from all walks of life.”
“It’s healthier and more savoury,” Mabilat said about Del Monte’s new Fruit Chunks in Fruit Puree snack cup. The snack cups feature soft pieces of two fruit flavours—pear or peach—in creamy fruit puree sweetened with concentrated grape juice. It won a DUX Grands Prix Gala award.
For Mabilat, a 43-year-old with a wealth of international marketing experience and a passion for creating innovative consumer products, the award was both a welcome recognition of the work done by her Del Monte team members and a new milestone in a remarkable personal and professional journey across several continents and industries.
Born in Bourges, a small city in central France, Mabilat’s father Daniel was a maintenance worker at a military equipment plant.
“My dad got me interested in travel,” said Mabilat, who enjoyed economics and sport climbing in school. “Every year we visited a new country.”
Global experience
After studying marketing and international trade at a business school in Paris, Mabilat
did several months-long internships at home and abroad. After finishing an MBA in Paris, Mabilat landed her first full-time job in 2005 as an innovation project manager with French cosmetics packaging manufacturer Albea.
“It was a consumer-centric role that focused on the development of innovative packaging to address the challenges women face when using makeup,” said Mabilat.
Three years later, Mabilat joined Decathalon, the world’s largest sporting goods retailer, as product manager, woman footwear.
“I wanted to get more experience in brand and portfolio management,” said Mabilat.
Over the next five years she honed her skills building the women’s range for Newfeel, a brand of urban walking shoes.
“We really focused on end users to identify functional needs and consumer insights,” said Mabilat. “We observed and interviewed users from Beijing to Madrid and San Francisco,” said Mabilat.
The team also worked with designers and engineers to find the right balance between maximum sport shoe comfort and style.
In 2013, Mabilat transferred to Decathalon’s office in Singapore to join her husband Guillaume, who was working there.
A year later she joined Unilever’s global skin care brand Pond’s operations in Singapore as global brand manager merchandising and packaging.
In 2016, the couple moved to Palmdale, Calif. There, Mabilat started an online floral design shop from home while parenting
two young children. She closed the business in 2020 when the couple moved to Montreal for Guillaume’s work. After a brief stint as e-commerce manager with apparel maker Lamour, Mabilat was hired as Del Monte brand manager in 2021.
“At first I was hesitant because it involved processed foods,” she said. “But then I saw it as a chance to have a positive impact by helping to create more nutritional products.”
In addition to the new fruit chunks in puree product, Mabilat said Del Monte has removed all artificial flavours from its products in Canada since her arrival.
“I love what I do,” she said. “And I love Montreal. It’s been an easy transition for us because we’re French. But it’s also an amazing place to raise a family.”
Sandro D’Ascanio of ACH Food Companies strongly advocates for data-driven decision-making and a culture of autonomy —
BY MARK CARDWELL —
If there’s one thing consumer products executive Sandro D’Ascanio has learned in his 30-year career, it’s that knowing the wants and needs of the end user is crucial to success.
“The advice I give colleagues in CPG is always listen to the consumer,” said D’Ascanio, general manager, Canada, for ACH Food Companies, makers of a portfolio of ingredient brands including Fleischmann’s and Mazola. “Don’t let the loudest voice in the board room dictate decisions.”
For D’Ascanio, 52, weaving the science of marketing and consumer behaviour with the interpersonal skills needed to develop innovative products has been both a calling and a hallmark in a successful professional career.
Born and raised in a tight-knit, Italian-Canadian family in Woodbridge, Ont., D’Ascanio said he was a “very conscientious” student in high school.
After graduating with a BBA and an MBA, D’Ascanio spent a year with Bausch & Lomb before landing his first job in CPG in 1999 with now-defunct Borden Foods.
“It was a great experience,” said D’Ascanio, who was assistant, then manager, of Borden’s Catelli pasta sauce brand. “I learned a lot about consumer research.”
When Heinz bought Borden’s pasta sauce business in 2001, D’Ascanio began a 12-year ascent up the corporate ladder with the North American food processing giant.
After serving as product and senior product manager of pasta sauce and frozen foods, D’Ascanio was named group marketing
manager, then marketing director for various portfolios, including infant feeding, convenience meals, and frozen foods and innovation. High points included the launch in 2007 of an organic line of around 60 baby food products—everything from cereal and purees to toddler snack foods—and leading innovation, strategic planning, and management of the frozen foods brand portfolio.
“Management treated managers as business owners,” he said. “We were responsible for the total P&L statement from revenues and costs to marketing spend.”
D’Ascanio found a similar corporate culture at better-for-you food, personal care,
and beverage maker Hain Celestial Canada, which he joined as senior director (marketing/R&D) in 2013, becoming vice president and general manager (personal care) two years later.
For D’Ascanio, a fit and active person who enjoys skiing, kayaking and many other outdoor, social and cultural activities, developing and leading marketing initiatives for Hain’s healthy food brands was both a good personal fit and a great career stop that helped deepen his management experience and hone his skills as a team leader and brand strategist.
“I like healthier foods,” said D’Ascanio, who has run three half-marathons to date. “Eating well is important to me and my family.”
As general manager of ACH Foods operations in Canada, a job he took up in Nov. 2020, D’Ascanio’s leadership duties now extend beyond marketing to include sales and business operating plans for the billion-dollar, Chicago-based ingredients maker’s Canadian operations.
For D’Ascanio, much of the success in his new role depends on the efforts and abilities of team members to understand the consumer by studying data from focus groups, surveys, and other scientific sources.
“I like to give people autonomy to work their own way, provided they meet goals,” said D’Ascanio. “I’ve learned that it’s okay to disagree and challenge senior leaders as long as you have the right data to support your direction and strategy.”
Sandro D’Ascanio.
Veterinarian finds her calling in aquaculture
Dr. Diane Morrison discusses her 30-year career in fish farming and her belief the industry plays a critical role in meeting the world’s protein needs —
Thirty years ago, Dr. Diane Morrison, veterinarian and managing director at Mowi Canada West, was attracted to aquaculture as a career because it was all brand new. “When I started, everyone I met was so passionate about the fish, enthusiastic about the industry and exciting to work with. We were all learning as we went,” she recalls.
Along with the people and the constant learning, Morrison fell in love with the continuous innovation in salmon farming to advance efficiencies, sustainability, fish welfare, and product development.
“It continues to be really interesting,” she says. “I stayed in the sector for the people, and because it’s so exciting to be part of the production of such healthy and high-quality products.”
Morrison graduated from veterinary school in 1992, one of four in her class of 100 interested in aquaculture. Fish farms back then were small and veterinary services were provided through feed companies like the one that hired her. She was exposed to a lot of different operations, which was a fantastic learning opportunity for her.
The learning continued after she was hired at Mowi in 2000. Morrison was involved in everything from broodstock to egg care through all salmon growth phases to the end product.
“I was very lucky,” she explains. “Now,
the roles are very specialized. I first had a focus on fish health and food safety, and about 10 years later, became a senior manager [in the company].”
Collaborations
In 2018, the current managing director was leaving, and Morrison put her name forward. She obviously had a huge amount of experience and good working relationships with members of several First Nations, which are important in Canada’s aquaculture sector. Morrison felt confident she could help strengthen Mowi’s First Nations relationships and together implement solutions that would benefit
BY TREENA HEIN —
everyone. For example, working with the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nation (Klemtu), Mowi switched from primary salmon processing in the community to smoking salmon.
“The product is called Klemtu Spirit and the community members were involved in everything from the logo and product development,” Morrison shares. “It’s being sold across Canada and it’s a huge source of pride for the community, for me and our entire team. It’s a tremendous success and a shining example of the opportunities this sector can provide.”
Indeed, Morrison believes the opportunities for farmed salmon are still untapped in Canada.
“We have so much coastline, and we offer such exciting careers,” she says. “Salmon farming offers high-tech positions, working with big data, automation and so much more. Overall, Mowi offers 80 career pathways with excellent growth potential.”
Morrison believes farmed fish is critical to meet the protein needs of humanity.
“We can’t put all the pressure on wild salmon populations,” she says. “We are making progress in public understanding that farmed fish is a positive industry. It’s a safe, highly regulated food product. At Mowi, fish welfare, and environmental, social, and economic sustainability has come so far. We are very proud to be leaders in First Nations reconciliation. We will continue to innovate and improve on all fronts.”
Adecade ago, Mitch Cobb, co-founder of non-alcoholic brand Libra, had a revelation. A budding entrepreneur with a keen sense of social justice and equity, he discovered while doing an MBA program at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown that he could reconcile profits and people in a social enterprise.
“Up to that point I had always considered business and community to be on opposite ends of the spectrum,” said Cobb. “But learning about B. Corp really opened my eyes to the possibilities of a triple bottom line of profits, people and the planet.”
Not long after, he hooked up with friend and fellow Islander Mike ‘Hoagie’ Hogan, a software engineer who was locally renowned for the beer he brewed in his basement. The two talked about opening a craft brewery called Upstreet, developed a business plan, then pulled together the financing needed to build a 15-hectolitre brewhouse with taproom that opened in P.E.I.’s capital in June 2015.
From its first three flagship products –Commons (a Czech-style pilsner), Rhuby Social (a strawberry/rhubard witbier) and Do Gooder (an IPA) – Upstreet has blossomed into one of the biggest and bestknown craft breweries in Atlantic Canada.
It now produces eight styles of flagship beers, six seasonal beers, nine different flavours of seltzers under the Rewind brand
and two lines of craft cocktails that are sold in bars and liquors across the region. It also has a second taproom in Charlottetown and is a partner in three pub/ restaurants, including the Upstreet BBQ Brewhouse in Dartmouth, N.S.
Its hottest product, however, is Libra, a five-flavour line of non-alcoholic beer that was launched in 2020.
Community initiatives
Upstart ploughs 10 per cent of company sales into its Do Good fund, which donates to local social and cultural groups and initiatives. It also hosts popular annual events like Christmas tree lightings and block parties. It is involved in fundraising activities that generate money for local charities. Those efforts have helped Upstreet earn P.E.I.’s first B. Corp certification and a Start-Up Canada regional award for social enterprise.
“We like to say that our mission is to refresh the community,” said Cobb. “We’ve positioned our brand as a fun, community-based product that people here really enjoy and support.”
Dream come true
For Cobb, being co-founder and CEO of a successful business that aims to maximize corporate profits and social benefits is the realization of an entrepreneurial dream.
Born and raised in Malpeque, an oyster-fishing community on P.E.I.’s north shore, Cobb was an energetic and curious
kid who dreamed of travelling the world and becoming a forensic scientist. After graduating from the University of New Brunswick with a quirky dual degree in anthropology and international development, he spent a year as an organic farm volunteer in Central America and then did a one-year education degree in Australia before returning to PEI and a job teaching life and employment skills to high school dropouts.
After getting married, Cobb and his wife spent a year backpacking around the world. He said he caught the entrepreneurial bug during the trip in Asia, where he started a short-lived online business school. Back home again in PEI, Cobb, a father of three, enrolled in the MBA program that opened his eyes to social enterprise.
“Being an entrepreneur is so hard,” he said. “But being able to give back makes it all worthwhile. I’m so grateful to be doing what I’m doing.”
Mitch Cobb firmly believes in a triple bottom line of profits, people and planet
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Mitch Cobb.
The art of grinding and handcrafting pet food
Maria Ringo and her husband offer pet owners a nutritious alternative to dry kibble
— BY BY JACK KAZMIERSKI —
Maria Ringo has been in the pet food industry for over 35 years.
Currently, she and her husband David Stauble are co-owners and co-founders of Carna4 Handcrafted Pet Food. However, while this is her husband’s first pet food business, Ringo has a much longer, and a much richer history in this segment of the market.
“Back in the 1980s, a friend and I had Bullmastiffs,” Ringo recalls. “We were interested in natural rearing and raw foods, but there was nothing on the market. So we created a food that had oats, nuts, herbs, and almonds—all ground up and mixed. It was a dry bag of food, which consumers would moisten and add fresh meat. This was the first raw food diet available commercially in the United States.”
Ringo and her then business partner/ friend attended all the trade shows to promote their unique pet food line.
“It was a great experience,” she says. “My husband likes to say that I got my MBA the hard way because I learned a lot about this industry, and about everything having to do with business.”
The next chapter
Ringo ran her raw pet food business for about 10 years, sold it in the 1990s, and then went on to start a new chapter in her life.
“I became a homeopathic doctor, married my husband, had a family, and I’ve
been in private practice as a homeopath for the last 12 years,” she says.
While Ringo was busy raising a family and practicing homeopathy, her husband was running a large chain of retail pet stores in Canada. Then, one day his company was bought out, and he and all the other executives were suddenly unemployed.
“That’s when he told me that he wanted to start his own dog food company,” Ringo
recalls. “I said ‘No way!’ but he wouldn’t listen, and that’s when Carna4 was started.”
Although Ringo agreed to work with her husband on this new endeavour, she had one condition.
“I told him that I don’t want to do this, but that I would if we could make it better than my first company,” she explains.
Ringo’s husband was up to the challenge. He crafted a recipe and sourced all the ingredients.
“We select all the ingredients ourselves to this day,” Ringo adds. “It’s all human-grade, meant for the table and the grocery store.”
According to Ringo, the new recipe is in fact better than what she was able to offer back in the 1980s. “We put together a unique product that is better. It’s quickbaked and air-dried so all the pathogens are killed,” she explains. “You’re not handling raw meat.”
Ringo still believes that raw meat is best for pets.
“That’s the best you can do, but not everybody can,” she explains. “So when you don’t have time to chop up the raw meat yourself because you’re busy getting the kids off to school, or you’re travelling, you can pour Carna4 in a bowl and rest assured that your dog is going to be okay.”
Besides the convenience factor, Ringo says her whole food approach to pet food translates into better health for the family pet. “We know Carna4 makes a difference,” she says, “and I think I’m prouder of that than anything else.”
