Canadian Food Business Sept/Oct 2016

SEPT/OCT. 2016

Âť The science of food and beverage

Class

Session

is in

Prepping the next generation of food technologists

Snack

nation

cereal's health game

Sunflower Oil A non-GMO oil ideal for product formulations Mid Oleic and High Oleic Sunflower Oil • superior stability and extended shelf-life • a longer fry-life than other oils 1

• a light, neutral taste, offering a clean flavour profile • heart health benefits — trans fat free and an excellent source of Vitamin E

Watch our VIDEO

Find out why so many food manufacturers have switched to sunflower oil.

Call one of the following suppliers to determine which sunflower oil is right for your application: ADM 800-637-5843

Buy USA Sunflower Oil | SunflowerNSA.com

Bunge Oils 800-361-3043 Caldic Canada Inc. 800-263-1939 Cargill 800-263-5573

NuSun® is a registered trademark of the National Sunflower Association.

1. Fry study conducted by Cargill, spring 2009.

C.P. Vegetable Oil Inc. 800-431-3731

Fazio Foods International Ltd. 604-253-2668 Hubbert’s Industries Ltd. 905-791-0101 LV Lomas Ltd. 800-575-3382 Northern Alliance Commodities 519-979-3800

Sager Food Products Inc. 514-643-4887 Saporito Foods 905-944-0505 TAKTIK Marketing 514-389-2553 Trade Organics USA, LLC 888-210-2599

contents

18

5

13

6 NEWS BITES

Canadian Snacking Craze Three square meals a day are a thing of the past as non-traditional snack foods take over the menu.

Letter from the editor

feature story

trending now

8

Mintel Intel: Could focusing on "free from" claims combat challenges facing the Canadian cereal market?

23

around the country

A TASTE OF...

Josh Domingues

School Books and Lab Coats Educating the Canadian food scientists of tomorrow.

20

In The Spotlight Homogenization

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

3

Titration

Get to Know Metrohm

Electrochemistry

Find out more at metrohm.com/en-us/technologies

Spectroscopy

www.metrohm.com

Laboratory

Process

CAN.9702.A1.1026.B-CFB Š 2016 Metrohm USA, Inc.

Ion Chromatography

Metrohm offers a complete line of analytical laboratory and process systems for titration, ion chromatography, spectroscopy and electrochemistry. From routine moisture analysis to sophisticated quantification, we are ready to help you develop your method and configure the optimum system. Move your analysis from the lab to the production line with our dedicated process analyzers.

editor'S letter

Publisher & CEO Christopher J. Forbes cforbes@jesmar.com Executive Editor Theresa Rogers trogers@jesmar.com staff writers Hermione Wilson hwilson@jesmar.com

Kelly Townsend ktownsend@jesmar.com CONTRIBUTORS

R. Stephen Brown Marcia Mogelonsky Julie Nguyen Kathy Perrotta

art director Katrina Teimo kteimo@jesmar.com graphic designer Houman Hadidi hhadidi@jesmar.com Secretary/Treasurer Susan A. Browne marketing Stephanie Wilson manager swilson@jesmar.com vp of production Roberta Dick robertad@jesmar.com production Crystal Himes MANAGER chimes@jesmar.com account Lynne LeBlanc manager lleblanc@jesmar.com

Canadian Food Business is published 6 times per year by Jesmar Communications Inc., 30 East Beaver Creek Rd., Suite 202, Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 1J2. 905.886.5040 Fax: 905.886.6615 www.canadianfoodbusiness.com. One year subscription and circulation enquiries: Fax: 905.509.0735 On occasion, our list is made available to organizations whose products or services may be of interest to you. If you’d rather not receive information, write to us at the address above or call 905.509.3511 The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in part or in whole without the written consent of the publisher. GST Registration #R124380270.

PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40063567 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. 202-30 EAST BEAVER CREEK RD RICHMOND HILL, ON L4B 1J2 email: canadianfoodbusiness@jesmar.com

Welcome W e lc o m e to t h e p r e m i e r i s s u e o f C a n a d i a n Fo o d B u s i n e s s !

We are the same, experienced team that developed Canadian Food Insights, but we’re growing and launching our own publication.

We’ve been listening to the market and we know you want more information about the science of food and beverage and that’s what we pledge to bring you. We’ll still keep you informed of all the news and trends you need to know about, but we’re leaving the academic research papers behind and moving into the real world of food science and technology that allows you to develop the safe, nutritious foods and innovative packaging that fill our grocery stores.

We’re changing our design and our editorial, to offer you a brand new publication experience. We’re beefing up our web presence and continuing to engage with you on social media.

Best of all, we’re still available online in digital format, but we’ll also be in print! We’re drawing on the strengths and team of our sister publications LAB Business and Bio Business, because nobody knows the Canadian laboratory and bioscience market better.

We’re your fun, geeky cousin that always knows what’s what and we can’t wait to hang out with you.

Sincerely Theresa Rogers

e d i to r c a n a d i a n fo o d b u s i n e s s

on twitter @CDNfood On the Web www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

@

Printed on paper with 10% post-consumer waste.

This magazine is recyclable.

Please recycle where facilities exist.

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

5

NEWS BITES

food events 2016

November 28, 29 Canadian Food & Drink Summit Toronto, ON

2017 February 8-9 Food Processing Expo 2017 Sacramento, CA February 23 Canadian Food Safety Forum Brampton, ON March 5-9 Pittcon Chicago, IL April 23, 24 Bakery Congress 2017 Trade Show & Conference Vancouver, BC June 25-28 IFT17 Las Vegas, NV

6

|||

people profile

Bushman’s Bar succeeds with Canadian identity J oJ o C o r m i e r f o u n d i n s p i r at i o n for bar in Canadian wilderness

By Kelly Townsend JoJo Cormier has spent much of his last 40 years in the boreal forest of northern Manitoba, taking in the sights and spectacles that the great Canadian wilderness has to offer. His experiences living off the land were part of the inspiration behind The Bushman’s Bar, a gluten-free snack bar his company, Boreal Berry Bar Inc., sells in Canada. The other inspiration came from his wife, Dr. Karen Cormier, who suffers from celiac disease.

The bar is made up of ingredients including wild rice, honey, wild blueberries, and sour cherries, all of which can be found in the boreal forest. “Very few people know we grow wild rice in the north on our clean lakes and rivers,” says Cormier. “I’ve lived off wild rice my whole life up here in the north; it’s very high in fibre and there are a lot of benefits to it.”

Observing the eating habits of native animals in the forest has informed his understanding of the ingredients. This has allowed Cormier to incorporate the ingredients into his own diet, versus studying them in a lab.

“I’m not a food scientist, I’m just a bushman,” he says.

The bar’s simplicity is also what makes it appealing.

“A six-year-old kid can pronounce each and every ingre-

dient,” he adds.

As for the business side of things, Cormier says it’s still difficult for a small company to make it in Canada’s food industry due to the dominance of big corporations. Hiscompany received help from the Saskatchewan government in the form of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Saskatchewan Agri-Value Initiative (SAVI). It was through SAVI that Cormier and his wife were able to receive grants to fund their business back in 2013.

“Without them we would have never made it,” he says.

Cormier says part of the bar’s success is also its distinctly Canadian branding, including the flag on the packaging. “We’re right on the border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and I see all the wild rice leaving the north and being shipped to the U.S., truckload after truckload,” he says. “I think there should be more and more things made in Canada. That’s what people are looking for.

“We’re all Canadians and that’s what we’re selling.

We’re trying to sell the north to the world. To let them know we have great resources in our great Canadian north and throughout Canada.”

Fast-cooking dry beans provide more protein, iron than ‘slower’ varieties Beans are a versatile, inexpensive staple that can boost essential nutrients in a diet, especially for people in lowresource areas where food options are limited. To get the most out of these legumes, new research suggests choosing fast-cooking dry beans could be the way to go.

A study in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that fast-cooking beans retained more protein, iron and other minerals than “slower” dry beans.

According to the World Health Organization about two billion people around the world are estimated to be deficient in key vitamins and minerals, including iron and zinc. Dry beans could help address these deficiencies, but they often take a long time to cook. Fastercooking beans would be a good dietary option, but whether they carry the same nutritional value as slowercooking varieties was unknown. So Karen A. Cichy, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and colleagues set

september/october 2016

Canadian Food Business

out to test them.

The researchers analyzed the nutritional value of 12 fast-, moderate- and slow-cooking dry bean cultivars from four classes: yellow, cranberry, light red kidney and red mottled. The speedier beans maintained higher protein and mineral content after they were prepared than the moderate- and slow-cooking varieties. For example, the fast-cooking yellow bean Cebo Cela contained 20 per cent more protein, 10 per cent more iron and 10 per cent more zinc than the yellow bean Canario, which took twice as long to prepare. Further testing showed that the iron bioavailability – the amount that a person’s body would absorb – is also higher in the quicker-cooking beans in each of the four classes examined.

The authors acknowledge funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Cancer Institute.

NEWS BITES

tw eets

company profile

Füdi combines healthy eating with convenience

@CDN_FOOD @DianaZandberg: @bulkbarn @CDNfood Tx for letting me know about your reuseable container program, Bulk Barn! This is great news & I can't wait to try it!

F o u n d e r M au r i z i o R ac c o s h a r e s w h y e at i n g lo c a l i s t h e h e a lt h i e r o p t i o n

By Kelly Townsend There’s no question that more and more Canadians are looking for healthy choices when it comes to their diets. On the flip side, with busy lifestyles becoming the norm, many don’t have time to prepare homecooked meals each night.

Maurizio Racco, founder of DMR Foods, has set out to prove convenience doesn’t mean sacrificing health. He has launched füdi, a locally sourced and healthy pre-packaged meal designed to appeal to every demographic in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). “It’s a return to how we used to eat with a modern delivery method,” says Racco.

The inspiration for füdi came to him in a single night; awake and hungry, Racco ventured to his local grocery store to pick up something fast and easy to make, but was dismayed at the lack of healthy options.

After some trial and error, and a handful of broken vacuum sealing devices later, füdi was born.

“I believe that the human being is better eating and drinking anything within a certain radius of where they live,” says Racco. “If you’re making something with Ontario products for people in Ontario, there’s certain wholeness to that circle.”

Supporting local farmers is a big part of füdi’s business model, not only from a health perspective, but as a way to help the local economy. Racco has partnered with a number of local vendors in the GTA including Beretta Farms in Etobicoke, ON, which supplies certified organic and antibiotic-free chicken, and Burnac Produce, located in Vaughn, ON.

“It’s been a very open and easy dialogue because I treat it like a business,” says Racco. “As a result, when you enter a negotiation like that, people are willing to hear what you have to say.”

Racco says füdi’s entrées have a night and day difference from other prepackaged meals found at the grocery store. Aside from locally sourced ingredients, the packages contain no added salt. “You have to have a sophisticated palate, one that likes to taste the ingredients and doesn’t want it to be overpowered by salt,” says Racco.

Another difference is the way the meals are cooked.

Instead of heating the food up by microwave, each füdi entrée is heated up by boiling water, a cooking method called sous-vide.

Racco says füdi is a product that appeals “across the entire age spectrum,” from older generations looking to cut salt out of their diets or parents looking for a healthy and easy meal babysitters won’t burn the house down trying to prepare.

The company’s latest products, sold at Whole Foods locations across Ontario starting in April 2016, were inspired by global flavours ranging from Italy to South America. “We are the cultural mosaic and that’s what I believe should be represented,” says Racco.

“What better way to be tolerant and understanding with someone than breaking bread with them? If I’m willing to eat the flavours of another culture and another culture is willing to eat mine, even if we’re not at the same table, we are.”

Carisma Potato Arrives The arrival of the Ontario-grown Carisma potato from EarthFresh Farms gives food lovers an alternative to other potatoes in grocery stores. Farmed from traditional seed and without the use of biotechnology, the Carisma potato has been found to have a lower glycemic response (GR), meaning it does not cause the rapid spike in blood sugar that normally comes from eating carbohydrate-rich foods. As consumer trends move toward a more balanced approach to nutrition and diet, this non-GMO potato is for those seeking to control blood sugar levels, including people with (or at risk of) diabetes, athletes and those looking to lose or control body weight.

@SQFI: RT @cdnfood: Food safety starts at product development and factors into BRC and @SQFI certs. #foodandbeveragetrends https://twitter.com/SQFI/ status/794512044175269888 @SPHERUsask Retweeted CanadianFoodBusiness: In 5-10 years, more restrictions will be placed on marketing foods high in sodium, sugar & saturated fats to kids @CDNfood: Canada's food guideline to be overhauled, including new food labelling and marketing regulations. http://ow.ly/FtOl305tkxM via @CBCNews https://twitter. com/SPHERUsask/ status/790974992313880577 @N4LCanada Nutrients for Life Retweeted CanadianFoodBusiness: Thanks @CDNfood! Read more about the new resource here: http://ow.ly/ IuP43054PWv #FertilizerDay @CDNfood: Nutrients for Life (@N4LCanada) launch nutrient stewardship student resource 4R Nutrient Stewardship in celebration of Global Fertilizer Day https://twitter. com/N4LCanada/ status/786669023987728384

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

7

around the country

School Books and Lab Coats

Canada’s food science students gain a holistic knowledge of the food industry

By Hermione Wilson

AS

the leaves start to turn, students all over the country settled in for a brand new school year. We took a peek into the classrooms of food science programs to see how Canadian colleges and universities are preparing students for work in the food industry.

In the Classroom: University of Manitoba (Manitoba)

After Graduation: Cara Thorleifson, Maple Leaf Foods University of Manitoba alumna Cara Thorleifson develops new products for Maple Leaf Foods. “I do all of the scientific work in the background in order to hit all of our macro and micro targets for the nutrition and flavour profile that we’re looking for,” Thorleifson says. “I [also] do a lot of work with the machinery and the packaging equipment.”

Thorleifson, who completed a BSc in Food Science at the University of Manitoba, points to a number of elements of the program which prepared her for her current profession. There were dynamic professors doing interesting research, she says, and practical courses like mechanical engineering. One course in product development, for instance, required students to develop a product from the ground up. Students had to provide specifications for packaging and all of the materials necessary to launch the product. The importance of timing was particularly emphasized, she says.

“The program’s sense of urgency and development time... was very eye opening and has made an impact on the way I handle all of my [product] launches and... all of my development,” Thorleifson says. “I have to pay attention to how quickly I get things done because it is 100 per cent impactful on the success of the product.”

Thorliefson has long had an interest in food. She started cooking at the age of 16 and completed a culinary arts diploma before deciding to go back to school for a degree in food science. “I discovered that I found the science of food far more interesting than I did just making it for other people,” she says.

In Manitoba, the food industry is very diversified, particularly in the area of commodity processing. The province has some of the largest potato processing facilities in Canada, with McCain Foods and J.R. Simplot Company plants in Portage la Prairie. Manitoba has also become something of a bacon capital since Maple Leaf established a processing facility in Winnipeg.

That’s the environment the University of Manitoba’s Food Science program is preparing its students to be a part of. “Our students are highly employable with the skills that they’re acquiring in our program,” says Department Head James House. “Our students will find their places in product development arenas.”

The program has a focus on grain processing and integration with the grain sector in Manitoba, but students are also well integrated with other aspects of the agri-food system including nutrition.

“We’re looking at creating stronger linkages between food science and human nutritional sciences, because that’s really key that our students understand the basic facts that are influencing decisions being made by the consumer; health consciousness is one of the biggest drivers,” House says.

The University of Manitoba’s Food Science program has a good relationship with the province’s Food Development Centre, a commercialization and innovation centre for the food sector, as well as an incubator for new companies.

That means food science students who do their co-ops there are well placed to be employed by the Food Development Centre or start-up companies that begin BCIT Food Technology students do lots of hands-on lab work. there.

8

|||

september/october 2016

Canadian Food Business

around the country

In the Classroom: McGill University (Quebec) McGill’s food science program grew out of two pre-existing programs: Nutrition and Home Economics, and Agricultural Chemistry and Physics. In 1986, “they decided to mix them together and generate a new department called Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry,” says Departmental Chair Varoujan Yaylayan. The program is accredited by the Chicago-based Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and The Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST) recognizes the McGill program and its students as eligible for CIFST scholarships.

Within the Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry department, McGill offers both graduate and undergraduate programs. There is a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Food Science and a BSc in Food Chemistry, as well as a concurrent four-year Food Science and Nutritional Science program which allows students to obtain two separate BSc degrees at once. The BSc in Food Chemistry is recognized by the Ordre des chimistes du Québec, which means students of the program are eligible for membership in the order and are allowed to act as official chemists and sign chemical analysis reports, Yaylayan says.

There is a master’s program and a doctoral program that emphasize the fundamental research applications of food science. “We have different professors working in different types of research involving processing, development of ingredients, food chemistry, analysis of flavours, aromas... microbiology, food safety, food genomics,” Yaylayan says. “Because we do research, we have a good connection with the food industry. We have different contracts with different food companies to help them in their research, to help them develop their products.”

Apart from interacting with the food industry through research projects, McGill students also enjoy a vibrant internship program. “We have 15 to 25 students going to internship training in almost all the food companies that are available in the Montreal area,” Yaylayan says. The food science students also have the opportunity to compete in IFT’s annual New Product Development Competition in Chicago, which McGill students won for the second consecutive year in 2016. The winning project was a vegetarian burger that used plant-based protein and natural food colouring.

“This is one of the hands-on experiences that students will gain, to actually come up with a project idea of a new food,” Yaylayan says. Students also get experience on the post product development stage through McGill’s entrepreneurship course, which teaches them to write a business plan and market a product. Quite a few students go into private business, Yaylayan.

had the look and taste of fresh bakery offerings but could be delivered remotely.

“The interest here was to give added value to freshbaked goods... besides [adding] the traditional bit of flax seed and calling it healthy,” Khoury says. “Beyond the nutritional plus, there’s a whole allergen control aspect which is core to our business. Our facilities are glutenfree, sesame-free, peanut-free and tree nuts-free. That also gives us access to clientele that was otherwise [unable] to go to a traditional bakery to have safe products to consume for themselves and their families.”

After three years in business, N3 Nutrition has built up a loyal customer base, Khoury says. The company makes a special effort to connect with its customers via social media and through direct contact, and tweaks product lines based on feedback. Deliveries are to customers both in Canada and the U.S. Khoury says he was attracted to McGill’s food science program because of the strong base courses in food science and chemistry. After graduation, he went to work in the nutraceuticals industry and had the opportunity to hire other McGill graduates while he was there. He noticed that they tended to have strong analytical skills and were comfortable managing complex projects with a lot of unknowns.

“McGill grads fresh out of university have a pretty good advantage vis-a-vis other food science graduates in terms of managing big amounts of information and transferring that information to their colleagues through presentations, meetings, etc.,” Khoury says. “This is very key because we’re often swamped with information and it’s a key skill to be able to summarize this in a rather quick way and transfer this information to your colleagues or to your teammates.”

After graduation: Ziad Khoury and Diana Valtierra Rodriguez, N3 Nutrition Ziad Khoury and Diana Valtierra Rodriguez are the husband and wife team behind N3 Nutrition, a food manufacturing company that specializes in nutritional, glutenfree and allergen-reduced food products. Both Khoury and Rodriguez are former students of McGill University. Khoury completed a BSc and MSc in Food Science in 2000 and 2003 respectively, later did his master’s thesis in protein chemistry. Rodriguez completed her PhD in Food Science and a doctoral thesis project on protein chemistry in 2015.

“We both have a specific specialty which is structure functionality of protein and understanding essentially how changes in the protein structure of specific sources of protein can affect the texture of the finished product,” Khoury says. They have applied that technical know-how to fresh baked goods in their business, especially with their brand Baked2Go. Baked2Go was born out of their desire to provide clients with baked goods that

Ziad Khourg (left) with wife and Co-founder Diana Valtierra Rodriguez (right) and business partner (Khourg’s sister-in-law) Nicole Khourg (middle), N3 Nutrition.

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

9

around the country

In the Classroom: British Columbia Institute of Technology (British Columbia) British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT)’s Food Safety and Processing umbrella program caters to food industry professionals who want to upgrade their skills. The students are a diverse cross section of the industry from those who work on the production floor to chemists and scientists.

The BCIT Food Safety and Processing program splits into three separate sections: Food Safety, Food Technology, and Food Technology and Operations Management. The school offers a part-time Food Safety Associate Certificate, a two-year Food Technology diploma program, and a Food Technology and Operations Management program that builds on the two-year Food Technology diploma and leads to a bachelor’s degree.

The BCIT Food Technology program is very hands-on, Friesen says. “The students are doing lots of labs compared to a traditional university program, so with every lecture course there’s a lab course that goes with it,” says Erin Friesen, Program Head for Food Technology.

Students in both the Food Technology and Food Technology and Operations Management programs also do a directed studies project where they work with the food industry. “If industry has, let’s say, a shelf life issue with one of their products or they want a new product developed, they submit a proposal to us in about October and then the students get to choose what project they want to tackle,” Friesen says.

“They’re usually either working on them individually or in pairs and then they work on these projects until about May and then they present the results back to industry on what they found.”

Friesen the program is constantly being re-

evaluated to make sure the right courses and training are offered. In addition, BCIT’s program advisory board meets twice a year. “We have about seven people from industry who are on our board and they meet, and we make sure our curriculum is relevant to what industry wants,” she says. One of the reviews suggested the addition of a product development course, which was added three years ago.

After Graduation: Andrew Chen and Ariela Badenas, Tempea Natural Foods Tempea Natural Foods is a success story Friesen is particularly proud of. The two former BCIT students who developed the Tempea product (soy tempeh that’s sold fresh and unpasteurized), Andrew Chen and Ariela Badenas, first showcased it at Pulse Canada’s 2015 Mission: ImPULSEible Student Food Product Development Competition. They took first place and soon after they launched their company which, as far as Friesen knows, is the first time students have turned their winning project into a business.

“What really pushed us to pursue this was the great feedback that we got from people,” Badenas says. She and Chen, both graduates of BCIT’s Food Technology diploma program, incorporated their business in December 2015 and started production in late June 2016. They have been sharing a production facility with other food startups and Badenas says she can see how BCIT uniquely prepared them for the challenge of starting their own business.

“It’s really helpful that BCIT gives us all the technical knowledge and information that we need, especially the skills that you need on the job,” Badenas says. “I think we really stand out from the other [startups] because we have that solid foundation on food science... It really did help us get things going a lot faster.”

The goal now is to develop a product as recognizable to consumers as tofu is now, Chen says. “We really want Tempea to be a product that stands by itself,” he says.

“In the future we hope that it will be comparable to tofu in terms of an alternative protein source.” It also means that Tempea is doing its part to contribute to a more sustainable food industry by reducing the consumption of animal proteins, Chen says.

“We know the trends for this year: vegan foods and plant-based protein,” Badenas says. “I think we feel that everything is starting to fall into place.”

Andrew Chen and Ariela Badenas took first place at Pulse Canada’s 2015 Student Food Product Development Competition for their soy tempeh product (right).

10

|||

september/october 2016

Canadian Food Business

around the country

In the Classroom: Niagara College (Ontario) Niagara College’s Culinary Innovation and Food Technology threeyear advanced diploma emphasizes the practical side of food industry training, says Amy Proulx, Program Coordinator for Culinary Innovation and Food Sciences.

“We really need people who are ready to go into industry with hands-on, Monday-morning-ready skills, whether they’re designing and maintaining a HACCP program or taking quality assurance samples or designing a new food product,” Proulx says. “We need those people with the hands-on skills and not just the idea of how to do, but the real practical knowledge of how to do it.”

Every year Proulx says she hires three or four co-op students from the program to work for the college’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute (CFWI), an innovation centre that is funded by NSERC and provides technical services to the Canadian food industry. The rest of the cohort goes out to work with the industry. Proulx says students go as far as Vancouver and New Brunswick, though the majority end up in the Toronto area.

Like many food science programs, the Culinary Innovation and Food Technology program offers the core competency course in food chemistry, food microbiology, food process engineering, HACCP (Hazard analysis and critical control points) programming, and GSSI (Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative).

“Those are all part of our program, but we also have a large emphasis on the product design aspect of our work,” Proulx says. “In Canada we know that price is king when it comes to customer selection, but taste and desirability are what drive repeat sales and we need people who have the creative skills to be able to pull off ‘delicious.’”

Niagara College has one of the only food science programs in Canada that also offers culinary skills training, Proulx says. Students have the opportunity to complete what is in essence a one-year chef skills diploma on top of their food science programming. Proulx says it is one of the most intensive programs at the Canadian Food and Wine Institute and one of the hardest at the college. “Students on average will be in the classroom between 24 to 26 hours a week, which is heavy when compared to many university programs,” she says.

Being as this is wine country, the program also offers specific courses in wine production, which involve students teaming up with the oncampus commercial winery, as well as a two-year Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program. The college will be adding an Artisanal Distillations program and a commercial distillery in 2017.

There is also an on-campus fully industrial, scalable bake shop where food science students can come in and write a HACCP program for, take quality assurance samples, or design a new product for an industry client.

All these options are available to students because of Niagara’s unique commercial spaces, Proulx says.

After Graduation: Rebecca Griffin and Genevieve Bisset Rebecca Griffin’s story reads as a case study of just how ready Niagara College Culinary Innovation and Food Technology students are to jump into the food industry. When Griffin was only a sophomore in the

Students at work at the Canadian Food and Wine Institute (CFWI). program, she was engaged to develop an alcohol-free beverage for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). The organization has a licensed beverage brand and had a beer-type product that wasn’t selling very well. MADD engaged CFWI in2013 to come up with something better and Griffin was one of the first cohort of students brought in to work on industry projects. “[Becky] identified a brand new processing methodology that was scalable to any craft brewer... and we developed a brand new 0.0 per cent non-alcoholic beer,” Proulx says. The beer has since won the Retail Council of Canada’s Best Beverage in 2015, and won the US Open Beer Championship two years in a row as the best nonalcoholic beer offering.

“It takes confidence on our part as a college to put young people like [Griffin] into positions of trust, but at the same time, those young people often come without the biases of how things have always been done and are able to find innovative and creative solutions to these problems and come with ideas that even experienced professionals like myself would not think of,” Proulx says.

Then, when former Dragon’s Den personality and restaurateur, Vikram Vij, approached CFWI about developing a food processing plant, food science student Genevieve Bisset was part a group of students engaged in the project. Vij wanted to provide people with restaurant-quality food in their own homes that they could pick up at their local grocery store and Bisset was the one who developed all the documentation for his HACCP program and federal registration.

“He was so pleased with the results that he hired her to join his team,” Proulx says. “She’s his quality assurance manager now and she only graduated a year ago.”

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

11

around the country

Innovation Literacy at George Brown College We spoke to Winnie Chiu, Director of George Brown College’s Food Innovation and Research Studio (FIRSt), about how the research and development centre contributes to the future of the Canadian food industry.

What is FIRSt and what is its objective?

We’re a technology access centre and we’re partially funded by the federal government. Our external focus is to help the food sector be more innovative and productive. We believe in the marriage of applied food science and culinary arts to enable local food companies to be more competitive.

What are the services you provide to the industry?

We provide quite a broad range of services, from concept ideation, market research, to product development, sensory evaluation, product scale-up and helping industry go into manufacturing.

What role do George Brown students play at FIRSt? We mostly work with students from the culinary arts program, [but]

we’ve also had students who are in the marketing and business programs because when we have clients who need to have market research or business plans – we’re talking about smaller clients or the SMEs – we can tap into them. We’ve also worked with some health science students, [including] students from the nursing and personal support program, to help evaluate and develop recipes.

Besides being an industry resource, what do you think FIRSt contributes to the education of future members of the Canadian food industry?

We like to provide students with innovation literacy. We want them to be able to understand how be entrepreneurial and innovative, and specifically with the culinary students, we want to provide them with enhanced tool kits to broaden their career horizons.

Read the full interview at www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

Flavour. It’s what we do.

Whether you are looking for a new ingredient or a custom flavour solution, the flavour experts at McCormick Canada are here to help.

Visit McCormickFlavourSolutions.ca to discover our range of high quality ingredients and to learn about the latest flavour and ingredient trends.

Be the first to know!

Sign up for our newsletter to receive the highly anticipated 2017 McCormick Flavour Forecast when it is released this December.

Call 1-888-595-1520 or visit us at McCormickFlavourSolutions.ca ®Reg. TM McCormick & Co. Inc. Used under licence.

12

|||

september/october 2016

Canadian Food Business

trending now

Canadian

snackıng craze In

2016, snacking no longer solely refers to an in-the-moment, treat-oriented indulgence but rather is more accurately defined as a behaviour. By today’s definition, anything and everything can be a snack – and increasingly is.

Findings from the recently released Ipsos’ Canadian Snacking Nation 2016 report finds that many Canadians are increasingly shifting eating habits from long-held traditions around threesquare meals a day toward the non-ritualized behaviour of snacking.

Snacking is now so interwoven in our food and beverage culture that more than two-thirds (67%) of consumption occasions occur at snack.

As consumers frequently engage in snacking behaviour, there is a growing necessity to understand with increased specificity and by occasion what the individual consumer of today demands from his or her snacks, particularly since snacking is such a solo and personal behaviour.

When snacking was less prevalent, it was often defined by a static universe of pre-defined foods.

However today, more than one in five snack occasions (21%) include a non-traditional snack food.

Conversely, the definition of snack continues to be fuzzy, especially when evaluating how consumers define a snack. The inclusion of traditional snack foods as meal replacements or meal

By Kathy Perrotta

Ranking of Non-Traditional Snack Foods Consumed at Snack » Sliced Bread/Toast » Vegetables » A/O Breads, Buns and Rolls » RTE Cereal » Eggs » Pizza » Soup

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

13

trending now

Snacking is now so interwoven in our food and beverage culture that more than

67%

of consumption occasions occur at snack

The average Canadian snacks 5 times per day offering an opportunity of more than

$62 billion

in food snacking occasions annually

Kathy Perrotta is Vice President, Ipsos Reid – Canada Marketing East

14

|||

accompaniments has also increased, up +3% since 2014. Today, more than a third (36%) of traditional snack foods is consumed as meal replacements or accompaniments. What one might define as ‘occasionagnostic’ foods such as fruit, cheese, yogurt, and dips/ spreads/salsa get the nod as top meal replacement or accompaniment items.

The result of this disruptive snacking behaviour is that the very same food item that functions as breakfast today, could very well be part of lunch the next day, and even act as a treat while watching television the evening following.

Importantly, the fact that your food or beverage product may be a meal component one day and a snack the next is not cause for confusion (or concern), but rather offers exceptional opportunity, especially given that cross-occasion consumer ambiguity both expands and extends the usefulness of a product in everyday consumption.

Expanding needs, priorities and emotions driving choice at snack are further differentiated by analyzing dayparts. Four in 10 (41%) snack occasions occur in the afternoon, the largest snacking daypart. Year over year growth in afternoon snacking behaviour is being driven by an increase in snacking at home (+2%) and by increased snacking on the go (+2%), which includes occasions in the car, walking and in-transit.

The afternoon snacking occasion is often referred to as the ‘battleground’ daypart, given its growth and size and the confluence of needs influencing choice during this time of day. Beyond the basic functional motivations of thirst and hunger, needs around grazing, craving, convenience, energy, portability, and health are among most important influencers of choice for an afternoon snack.

More than three-quarters (77%) of afternoon snack occasions include a beverage, while just under half (42%) include a traditional snack food such as chocolate, fruit or potato chips.

When we consider that the average Canadian snacks five times per day, it offers an opportunity

of more than 62 billion food snacking occasions in Canada annually.

There can be no discussion about snacking without giving consideration to the role that health and nutrition play in Canadians’ decision-making.

Canadians continue to redefine healthy choices, driven by a growing desire to access functional benefits, adhere to dietary restrictions and sensitivities, and continue to evaluate item nutrient benefits.

This emerging interpretation of what snacking is offers another enormous opportunity for marketers, as almost one in three consumers (28%) reports a dietary restriction or sensitivity impacting their snacking decisions. These restrictions and sensitivities could include limiting or excluding gluten free, lactose intolerance, Halal certification or nut allergies. There is also a growing behavioral trend toward choosing snack items that have fewer, simpler ingredients and are, for example, low sugar/no sugar added, locally grown/sourced, organic and vegetarian/vegan.

At first glance it may seem that Canadians’ shifting eating patterns appear to be arbitrary, disorganized and a root cause to Canadians’ poor eating habits.

However, the ad hoc approach to eating is not random at all but is viscerally tied to the changing rhythms of people’s time-starved everyday lives.

The importance and dominance of snacking in the consumption patterns of Canadians has arrived. At the same time though, evolving definitions of snacking continue to provide a compelling opportunity for manufacturers and retailers alike to come to the aid of the consumer.

Kathy Perrotta is a Vice-President, Marketing, Ipsos Canada and leads the FIVE study. FIVE is a daily on-line diary tracking what individuals (aged 2+) consumed yesterday across all categories and brands, occasions and venues (including Foodservice). FIVE commenced its capture of behaviour, attitudes, situational dynamics and food preparation among 20,000 individuals annually in January 2013.

Fastest Growing Traditional Snacks at

Fastest Growing Beverages at

Afternoon Snack

Afternoon Snack

Cheese

Tap Water

Snack Beverages

Tea

Fresh Cut Vegetables

Fruit Juice

Dips/Spreads/Salsa

Flavoured Sparkling Water

september/october 2016

Canadian Food Business

TECTA Automated Water Pathogen Detection Even with advances in farming, distribution,

U.S. EPA Approved!

processing, and storage practices, E. coli

AD

outbreaks continue to occur throughout the food chain.

Stop E. coli in Its Tracks The TECTA Automated Microbiology Platform requires much less manual labor and use of disposable products – the test cartridge is pre-filled with all required test reagents eliminating the need for any handling, dilution, or mixing of reagents for test samples. When results are available in 2-18 hours, appropriate action can be taken if required.

The core TECTA automated microbiology technology can be packaged in a variety of instrument configurations to meet the needs of a wide range of applications – from the smallest remote municipality to the largest industrial processor.

Desktop Systems for Municipal and Industrial Quality Assurance - Samples from municipal water distribution systems, or from points of use in industrial process water systems, are processed by a compact desktop instrument located in close proximity to the point of sampling by personnel who do not require extensive microbiological training.

Laboratory Automation Systems Automate the process of testing large volumes of samples that have been collected in a variety of locations and returned to a central testing laboratory for analysis; eliminating all the sample preparation steps that traditional methods require.

Advertorial

Solutions for Automated Water Pathogen Detection

by Dr. R. Stephen Brown, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s University, Ontario, CA Safe Water is a Critical Need Water plays a central role in our lives, and access to safe water is essential for everyone – from those living in the world’s largest cities to the smallest towns and as a key element of industrial processes producing everything from the most basic foods to today’s most advanced microelectronics. Water destined for human and industrial consumption is required to be quality tested for a wide variety of contaminants, including potentially harmful microorganisms. While many water quality parameters such as pH, chlorine and turbidity can be measured in near real-time by on-line measurement instrumentation, microbiological testing presents a unique challenge. The requirement to detect a single E. coli cell in a 100mL water sample has been compared to the challenge of finding a single coffee bean in 40,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The majority of microbiological water quality tests rely on traditional microbiological methods that were developed decades ago. Water samples are sent to a laboratory where they are filtered and subsequently placed into a growth culture media that is typically incubated for 24 hours. After the incubation period, each sample is inspected by a trained technician for signs of bacterial growth. Chemical additives in the growth media cause colonies of specific target bacteria to change color or to appear fluorescent under ultraviolet light. While these methods are the current gold standard, they require 24-48 hours for samples to be transported, analyzed and the laboratory results to become available. In the event of contamination, delays in receiving test results increase the risk of public exposure, requiring costly remedial action or product recalls.

The Innovation: Introducing the TECTA Automated Microbiology Solution The impact of highly-publicized events involving contamination of municipal water supplies has driven the need to develop new microbiological test methods that are faster and easier to use than traditional methods, while maintaining the sensitivity and reliability that have been trusted for decades.

In 2001, a consortium of university researchers and water quality experts proposed an innovative approach – a novel way of automating the test by using a polymer-based optical sensor to detect the same types of fluorescent indicators of bacteria used in the trusted current methods. Pathogen Detection Systems, Inc. was subsequently formed to provide municipalities and industries worldwide with the automated microbiology solutions that were developed as a result of this research.

1

Advertorial

U.S. EPA Approved

The innovative capabilities of the TECTA system are made possible by a patented polymer based optical sensor, the “Optical Partition Element”, that is built into every test cartridge. Each cartridge contains pre-measured amounts of growth media that support the enrichment of any target bacteria that are present in the sample.

As target bacteria such as E. coli or Coliforms begin to multiply, they emit a specific enzyme that interacts with a proprietary chemical substrate in the cartridge, releasing fluorescent molecules from the substrate. These fluorescent indicators rapidly move from the water sample into the polymer optical sensor located within the cartridge, enabling automated detection by a low-cost ultraviolet optical detection system that is built into the TECTA instrument.

The novel combination of the polymer-based optical sensor and ultraviolet optical detection system provides several key

advantages. The fluorescent indicators are extracted and concentrated within the polymer of the optical sensor, facilitating both rapid detection at the earliest possible time and eliminating the risk of off-color samples or turbidity within the water sample obscuring the fluorescent indicator. When placed in the TECTA instrument the test is monitored continuously throughout the incubation process – providing alerts of contaminated samples as soon as possible and eliminating the requirement to wait until the end of a fixed incubation process (typically 18-24 hours). This unique early alerting capability allows the system to provide results within 2-18 hours, depending on the level of sample contamination. In addition to a “presence/absence” result, the system is capable of providing an estimate of the number of bacteria that were present in the original sample – an important indicator of the level of severity of an adverse microbiological test result.

Dr. R. Stephen Brown’s research is focused on instrumentation and methodology related to water quality monitoring and environmental toxicology. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers, five book chapters, and has six issued patents. He has given many invited seminars and conference presentations on his research and on technology transfer. He co-founded the company Pathogen Detection Systems, now a subsidiary of Veolia Environment in the ENDETEC group. He continues to work with ENDETEC as Chief Scientist to develop and commercialize new water monitoring technologies.

TECTA™ Automated Microbiology System TECTA is the first automated microbiological testing system approved by U.S. EPA for regulatory compliance testing of municipal drinking water systems required under the Total Coliform Rule.

The system saves precious time and money by being able to test onsite without the need for a microbiologist. It requires much less manual labor and use of disposable products – the test cartridge is pre-filled with all required test reagents eliminating the need for any handling, dilution, or mixing of reagents for test samples.

• • •

Shows positive results with single cell sensitivity and provides an estimate of the number of bacteria present Simplifies the FSMA process, easily handling the increased number of tests Approved by the U.S. EPA for drinking water regulatory compliance monitoring

Description TECTA Automated Rapid Microbial Detection System Combined E. Coli and Total Coliform Test, 100 mL

Cat. No. 10218-898 10220-374

Price Ea./ 19,750.00 Box 48/ 472.00

Mintel Intel

MI

Could focusing on

"free from" claims combat challenges facing the

Canadian cereal market?

By Marcia Mogelonsky

Sales

of breakfast cereal in Canada are flat while Canadians look elsewhere to feed their breakfast hunger. The cereal category could re-engage consumers if it upped its health status, featuring more free-from products, especially those aimed at kids.

The breakfast cereal market is in decline As is the case with its neighbour to the south, the Canadian breakfast cereal market is in decline.

Estimated at $1.8 billion in 2015, the Canadian breakfast cereal market has been in a steady decline since 2010, showing a drop of 10% in value and 3% in volume over the five-year period, according to Mintel research.

A number of factors have contributed to the declining sales of cereal, with some of the problems reflecting issues that have challenged the category across developed markets.

Contributing to the category’s decline are the popularity of protein-dense breakfast foods (i.e. eggs, yogurt) instead of cereal, as well as the growing interest in more portable options (i.e. cereal bars) and the “need for speed and convenience” that is answered by foodservice breakfasts.

Contributing to the category’s decline are the popularity of protein-dense breakfast foods (i.e. eggs, yogurt) instead of cereal, as well as the growing interest in more portable options (i.e. cereal bars) and the “need for speed and convenience”.

Canadians eat cereal – they just don’t eat it very often As seen in other developed cereal markets, the percentage of Canadians who eat cereal is high; more than nine in 10 adults aged 18 and up. But, the frequency with which they eat cereal is low: only one in five eat cereal daily, while even fewer report eating cereal once a month or less, according to Mintel’s Hot and Cold Cereal Canada 2015 report.

Canadians who are not frequent cereal eaters have a range of excuses for defecting from the category, and while some of these reasons are “actionable” for manufacturers, others are proving to be insurmountable. Adding more protein to cereal, for example, is an action that manufacturers have taken – launches of high protein breakfast cereals have more than doubled since 2012, according to Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD). And, cognizant of consumers’ desire for lower-sugar cereals, manufacturers introduced more than twice as many low/no/reduced sugar cereals in 2014 than were available in 2012. Manufacturers have also worked on launching products that promote satiety, with more high fibre and whole grain products that should answer those who feel that cereal does not keep them feeling full.

18

|||

september/october 2016

Canadian Food Business

Mintel Intel

MI

Upping cereal’s health game Although there has been some defection from the cereal category, it is notable that four in five Canadian adults eat cereal more than once a month, including more than a third who eat cereal multiple times per week. This suggests that although consumers may be tempted to try other foods, cereal still has a major place at the Canadian breakfast table.

That said, it is notable that less than half of cereal eaters trust the health benefits that cereals promise, indicating that more than half have some apprehensions about the products. Cereal manufacturers may want to take a closer look to see which attributes in their products are putting cereal eaters off. While a number of factors (i.e. high sugar, calorie count) may be driving consumers away, cereal eaters may also be concerned about the additives in cereals including artificial colours or flavours, gluten, or allergens such as nuts.

Canadian consumers are interested in a range of free-from claims and products, some of which may be missing in breakfast cereals. According to Mintel’s Free From Food Trends Canada 2015 report, three in five Canadians agree that free-from foods are healthier to eat, while half are more likely to buy products with free-from labels.

Canadian cereal launches address free-from status, wooing more users Between January 2014 and May 2016, a quarter of cereals launched in Canada claimed no additives or preservatives, a free-from claim that is likely to have resonance with Canadian consumers, especially those who are more likely to buy products with free-from labels. The number of products with no additives/preservatives labels increased 21% over the past two years, which is likely to appeal to consumers who are looking for free-from foods.

Similarly, there has been an increase in launches of low/no/reduced allergen cereals.

But, other free-from labeling in the cereal aisle has not fared as well: launches of GMO-free cereals fell 6% over the same period, while those with low/no/reduced saturated fat fell 35% and those with low/no/reduced sodium were flat.

It may be especially important to label free-from cereals aimed at children, since parents are more likely than non-parents to seek out such attributes. Two-thirds of parents agree that free-from products are healthier to eat or drink, compared with slightly less than three in five non-parents.

What’s more, parents are more likely to buy products with free-from labels, compared with non-parents.

Parents are also more likely to use specific free-from foods: more than two in five parents, for example, use GMO-free foods, compared with a third of non-parents. Cereal manufacturers may want to ensure that free from labels are front and center on cereal packages, given the degree to which these attributes are important to consumers.

Despite the fact that we’re seeing cereal sales and usage fall flat in Canada as consumers seek out alternatives for breakfast, interest in the category could Marcia Mogelonsky, Ph. D., is Director of be reignited if more brands showcased Insight, Mintel Food positive health attributes and free-from and Drink. status of their products.

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

19

in the spotlight

Homogenization Setting quality specifications and improving shelf life

By Julie Nguyen

The

National Milk Marketing plan was created in 1970 to enforce strict quality standards throughout the production and processing chain of Canadian dairy products. According to the Canadian Dairy Information Centre (CDIC), more than 2.5 billion litres of milk and cream were produced in 2015.1 Because this beverage is important for the health of both consumers and the economy, special focus needs to be given to the supply chain, since it plays a critical role in determining the shelf life of the product.

Raw liquid milk is a mixture of fat globules, proteins, and other nutrients such as vitamin A, D, E, and K, just to name a few. The particle size of fat globules, in particular, plays a crucial role in determining the shelf life in addition to the taste and texture of the milk. When left to age, fat globules present in whole raw milk will rise to the top, creating a layer of cream. When kept continuously at the optimal temperature of 2 C to 3 C, the shelf life of non-homogenized milk can last about seven days, while homogenization can prolong the shelf life to at least twice as long. For that reason, commercial milk is most often homogenized.

Homogenization is a two-stage mechanical (not chemical) process developed in the late 19th century.

It reduces fat globules into smaller droplets by forcing milk through a tiny orifice under high pressure.

In doing so, fat droplets are reduced in size and will thus stay suspended in liquid milk longer. This process is used to produce whole milk (approximately 3.6% fat), 2% milk, and skim milk. Some research studies have even shown that homogenization also improves the digestibility of milk. There is, however, a downside. Decreasing fat droplet size increases the available surface area, and when available surface area of the fat droplets becomes excessively large there is insufficient protein to completely cover the surface of

20

|||

september/october 2016

Canadian Food Business

Homogenization is a two-stage mechanical (not chemical) process developed in the late 19th century.

It reduces fat globules into smaller droplets by forcing milk through a tiny orifice under high pressure.

in the spotlight

Data name

Graph type

Non Homogenized Milk 1 Whole Milk

Reference [1] www.dairyinfo.gc.ca

Julie Nguyen is a consultant at HORIBA Scientific

D(v,0.1) 2.39667 (μm) 0.49969 (μm)

the droplet. The result can be flocculation or coalesce of fat droplets. In order to achieve a perfect balance, food scientists need to monitor and control the homogenization process through real-time feedback.

HORIBA Instruments offers two options for monitoring the homogenization process; the LA-350 Laser Particle Size Analyzer and the LA-960 Laser Particle Size Analyzer.

The LA-960 is the high performance laser diffraction analyzer with a wide dynamic size range from 10 nm to 5 mm. While some may feel that a size range from 10 nm to 5 mm is overkill for assessing particle size of fat globules, many have found that the LA-960 can provide additional sub-micron information on milk. This data in the nanometer size range can provide information on the protein constitution (casein micelles) of the milk. The LA960 also offers unique accessories that are well-suited for a wide variety of dairy applications, such as spraydried milk powder, chocolate and coffee creamer.

The Partica mini LA-350 is a laser diffraction analyzer with a size range from 100 nm to 1000 µm.

This lower cost LA-series analyzer is compact (297 mm x 420 mm) and portable (23 kg). This offers the added advantage of being able to be placed at each milk plant, providing immediate feedback on optimization of the final product. For that reason, the LA-350, or its predecessor, the LA-300, has become the standard in the industry.

Above is a typical of the example of the overlay of store-bought non-homogenized milk and

D(v,0.5) 3.71296 (μm) 0.80771 (μm)

D(v,0.9) 6.23219 (μm) 1.25172 (μm)

In 2015, more than

2.5 billion litres of milk and cream were produced in Canada.

homogenized whole milk obtained using the LA350**.

The distribution shows the presence of much larger fat globules in non-homogenized milk versus the distribution of stable, homogenized whole milk. Particles for non-homogenized milk range from approximately 1-10um whereas particles for homogenized milk range roughly from 0.22um. From the analysis result, we can see that the homogenization process reduces particle median (D(v0.5)) from 3.71um to 0.81um. This critical parameter is often utilized by milk producers when setting quality specification thus improving shelf life. **Note that the amount of fat dominates the amount of casein (protein) in whole fat milk such that the presence of protein is not even apparent in this particle distribution. For full detail, please visit www.horiba.com and go to the Applications Note on Milk Homogenization.

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

21

Leading choices for Food Testing The rising costs of food and reporting by health authorities of the presence of contaminants in food has resulted in an increased demand by consumers for better quality and assurance of safety.

ATS Scientific Inc. is Canada’s trusted leading provider of Analytical Instruments and Sample Preparation Equipment for laboratories conducting Nutritional Labeling of Food and Food safety.

Whether testing for meeting compliance with Health Canada, CFIA regulations or other, we offer you the highest quality and widest choice of instruments:

Microwave Digestion (Trace Metals)

Kjeldahl Nitrogen & Dumas

Dietary Fiber Analyzer

Knife Mill/Homogenizer

Learn more about our food testing instruments at www.ats-scientific.com Contact us: 1.800.661.6700 | sales@ats-scientific.com

Nutrient Analyzer

Particle Size Analyzer

A TASTE OF...

What was the inspiration behind Flashfood?

Josh Domıngues Canada’s newest food app CEO takes aim at waste

There

is a growing conversation in the global food industry surrounding two paradoxically different, yet similar problems: food insecurity and food waste. While Canada’s food banks have felt more pressure than ever to feed families, grocery stores and restaurants continue to throw out unsold product at an alarming rate. “Last year there were 880 million people that suffered from hunger and there was an estimated 2.5 trillion pounds of food thrown out from farm to consumer,” says Josh Domingues, CEO of Flashfood. “Our company’s mission is to fix that problem.”

Flashfood is a new, free app set for a soft launch in Fall 2016, developed

by Domingues and his team, which offers a solution to Toronto’s food waste problem. Acting as a go-between for food vendors and consumers, Flashfood provides vendors with the opportunity to offer discounts on surplus food. These deals can be purchased by consumers in-app, who can then pick up the food during an indicated time window. There is no word on which vendors have signed on yet, but Domingues says he has been in talks with one of Canada’s big three grocery chains.

“All that Flashfood is doing is giving Canadians a chance to make a change and do it in a way that’s not sacrificing our current way of life,” says Domingues.

My sister is a chef and she was working for a catering company. She gave me a call pretty late one night after leaving a convention centre they had worked with for a big event, and she was pretty upset. She said she had thrown out roughly $4,000 worth of food. She was upset because she was walking by homeless people on the way back to her place and it was frustrating to her why this problem happens.

That really opened my eyes to look into the issue.

What has been the biggest hurdle toward launching the app?

There have been three massive hurdles. The first was getting in front of grocery store executives, real decision-makers, explaining our story and having them buy in from that perspective. The second was putting this together from a technology perspective so that it was a very easy process and user-friendly. The third and final, that we feel, is the experience in-store, whether it’s a grocery store or a restaurant, so that people can easily come, pick up their food and leave having a good experience and wanting to tell their friends or family about it.

Why has there been a lack of action on the issue of food waste?

I think that people don’t really realize the magnitude of the problem.

There’s been more research done recently and the public is now starting [to become aware]. I think we’re still 12 to 15 months ahead of this being a really popular topic and something everyone understands, but I think we’re getting toward that point.

How will technology shape the food industry in the next decade?

It’s not this dirty secret that grocery stories have been hiding forever, it’s just from their perspective, it’s very difficult to distribute all this food to different organizations and make sure it’s safe to eat, they don’t have any liabilities and there’s no heavy costs associated with doing it. I think that technology in the next 10 years is going to completely change the way that food is being distributed. In Canada we have an opportunity to make it completely change in the next year-and-a-half or two years and to be a real leader in this space internationally.

Canadian Food Business www.canadianfoodbusiness.com

|||

23

TM

APPLES

The Arctic Advantage

™

NONBROWNING APPLES OFFER CONVENIENCE, BOOST CONSUMPTION Obesity continues to be one of North America’s most important challenges, as the number of overweight children has nearly tripled since 1980.1 Yet consumption per capita of apples, one of the world’s healthiest foods, has been stagnant over that same time.2 Apples are consumers’ most requested packaged produce item,3 but they’re rarely eaten in more convenient, “snackable” forms like fresh slices.

Why? Browning!

Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF), a small, grower-led company, has developed an elegant solution with the help of biotechnology – nonbrowning Arctic® apple varieties.

By silencing the enzyme polyphenol oxidase, which causes apple browning, Arctic® apples won’t brown when bitten, sliced or bruised. With the same nutrition and composition as conventional apples, Arctic® apples are healthy and delicious!

The Arctic Advantage™ is especially clear for pre-sliced apples, the initial form that Arctic® apples will be sold in. Research from Cornell University4 demonstrates that when apples are served pre-sliced, 73% more children eat over half their apples.

However, currently less than 2% of apples are sold as fresh slices.5 For comparison, “baby” carrots doubled carrot consumption when introduced and now make up ~70% of U.S. carrot sales! 6 Anti-browning treatments add up to 40% to the cost of freshcut apples, and often give the fruit an “off-taste”. Arctic® apples avoid these issues and deliver the wholesome, fresh taste consumers are looking for with preservative free, ready to eat slices!

Arctic® apple products are being introduced in U.S. markets in 2017, with Canadian introduction soon to follow. We invite you to learn more on our website or by contacting us at info@okspecialtyfruits.com.

Nonbrowning apples benefit every segment of the supply chain, reducing unnecessary waste and offering improved product quality. The supply chain will profit from reduced shrink and enhanced eye-appeal, while consumers gain convenience, versatility, and a more appealing eating experience.

CONVENTIONAL APPLE

1

2

3

4

5 6

Ogden, C.L. and Carroll, M.D. (Sept. 2012), Prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents; United States, Trends 1963-1965 through 2009-2010, Health E-Stat.

USDA ERS (May 2012), Fresh apples: Supply and utilization in the United States, 1980/81 to date, U.S. Apple Statistics.

Consumer Attitudes Toward Packaged Fruits and Vegetables (Aug. 2011), Produce Marketing Association.

Wansink, B., Just, D.R., Hanks, A.S. & Smith, L.E. (2013). Pre-sliced fruit in school cafeterias: Children’s selection and intake. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 44(5): 477-480.

2015 USApple Production and Utilization Analysis (2015), U.S. Apple Association.

Ferdman, R. (2016, January 13). Baby carrots are not baby carrots. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com

www.arcticapples.com © 2016 by Okanagan Specialty Fruits®. All rights reserved.

Arctic® is a trademark of Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc.

ARCTIC® APPLE