Canadian Food Business Winter 23/24

» The science of food and beverage VOLUME 38 • ISSUE 4 • WINTER 2023

Leveraging data to

MAKING CROP PRODUCTION MORE PROFITABLE, EFFICIENT, AND SAFE

B I O L A B M AG.C O M

satisfy tastes

EDITOR'S NOTE

PUBLISHER & CEO

Christopher J. Forbes cforbes@dvtail.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Sean Tarry starry@dvtail.com

COPY EDITOR

Mitchell Brown

CONTRIBUTORS

Jana Manalakos

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Leesa Nacht lnacht@dvtail.com

ART DIRECTOR

Charlene Everest ceverest@dvtail.com

SECRETARY/ TREASURER

Susan A. Browne

MARKETING MANAGER

Stephanie Wilson swilson@dvtail.com

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Crystal Himes chimes@dvtail.com

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Zack H. Abdi, Managing Director and Founder, Provectus Enterprising Inc. Anton Angelich, CFS Melanie Budicky, VP, R&D and Regulatory, Giraffe Foods Dr. Hamed Vatankhah, Chief Executive Officer, Scipertech Heidi Loney, Executive Director, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST)

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LEVERAGING DATA TO FIND FOOD EFFICIENCIES, REDUCE COSTS, &

IMPROVE OVERALL RESULTS

T

he food and beverage industries are continuously tasked with the unenviable requirement to constantly evolve with the tastes and preferences of the consumer. It’s an objective that seems next to impossible to achieve. However, as the world around us continues to undergo an accelerated digitization, the data that’s being generated as a result is serving to inform and inspire. With this in mind, this issue of Canadian Food Business is focused on the ways in which data is being leveraged to enhance productivity, increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and facilitate growth for those working within the food and beverage industries.

First, we sit down with Jeff Chemeres from Croptracker Inc. about the integrated digital software and hardware provider’s solutions that help growers of fruits and vegetables succeed and grow within today’s hyper-competitive market.

Through its visualization technology and use of data and artificial intelligence, the innovative company is helping to make food production safer, more efficient, and more profitable for its clients.

In efforts to turn food waste upside down, Inverte — a Newfoundland-based automated technology provider — has developed an innovative way by which restaurant owners and operators can track food portions in real time, resulting in significantly improved food management, reduction in labour costs, and enhanced operational consistency. It's helping to divert a considerable amount of food from ending up in waste bins, too, while also preventing the harm that it would ultimately cause to the environment.

We also take a peek inside Tag’s 2024 Flavour & Trend Forecast report, which sheds some light on things to expect heading into the new year, revealing its predictions concerning the food and beverage trends and flavours that will whet the most appetites over the course of the next 12 months, as well as insights into the ingredients, cooking techniques, and culinary ideas that will help drive innovation going forward.

We sincerely hope that the content we offer within this issue of Canadian Food Business helps to inform, and that the innovations highlighted inspire you and your teams to continue pushing the limits of creativity on your journey of growth and success within the Canadian food and beverage industry.

Sean Tarry EDITOR

email: biond@publicationpartners.com

BioLab Business, a sister publication of Canadian Food Business, is a proud member of BioteCanada and Life Sciences Ontario.

Publisher of BioLab Business Magazine Printed in Canada

In 2022, the Canadian Institute of Food Science & Technology (CIFST) and Canadian Food Business launched a partnership to create a platform for leading experts, innovators, and scientists to showcase the latest trends, knowledge, and developments that are changing the face of Canada’s food industry today.

For further information, contact sbrowne@dvtail.com.

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inside FEATURES

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FOOD RECALL: HOW MISSTEPS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A RECALL PROCEDURE CAN LEAD TO JUDICIAL ACTION INVERTE: TURNING FOOD WASTE UPSIDE DOWN

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Tracking food portions in real time to better manage food and labour costs and enhance operational consistency

MANAGING CROP GROWTH IN THE DIGITAL AGE

MOMENT IN TIME

THE TASTE OF 2024

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standard GUEST EDITORIAL 32 NEWS BITES 34 FOODWARE 46

GUEST EDITORIAL

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Increasing role of data in the food industry

By Richa Singh, Marketing Manager, Giraffe Foods

I

n today’s world, data analytics is transforming just about every part of human life, including the relationships built between businesses and consumers. Businesses are increasingly dependent on data insights to enhance their productivity, processes, and presence in the industry. In the last few years, the food and beverage industry, in particular, has been greatly benefitting from databased technology, trends, and insights to make informed decisions.

GUEST EDITORIAL

From understanding consumer preferences to learning about their daily dietary routines and habits, data is providing science behind every action that a consumer takes. As a food and beverage brand, one tries to see data-based trendlines across different touchpoints, from weekly grocery shopping trips and cooking patterns to visits to drive-through restaurant and snacking preferences.

The availability of different data platforms like Mintel, Technomic, Datassential, and Euromonitor is providing big data analysis to foodservice operators and retailers to help them achieve various business objectives, including • getting ahead of competition; • menu innovations and elevations; • understanding product launch cycles; • tapping into hidden consumer needs; and • leveraging global flavours and foods.

Food manufacturers like ours, Giraffe Foods, a leading company in developing custom culinary sauces, dips, dressings, and marinades, are empowering business-to-business customers with consumer insights and food trends to help them understand the competitive landscapes, launch products to expand their consumer base, and expedite their sales volume. Food trends and consumer insights have become an increasingly popular and important part of the process across food segments, while operators understand that it’s crucial to make use of the available reports to validate their products launches. The most positive impact resulting from the trends and insights is the fact that today’s operators want to make informed decisions based on menu or customer basket analysis, or future trends like flavour adoption lifecycle and insights to invest in new products.

Data has made it possible for food professionals to become forward-looking, especially for food scientists, product developers, and food researchers. They are leveraging data analytics to develop various types of flavours, food formats, and textures that are going to trend in the upcoming years. An example of such innovation is the continuous improvements that are being made to the texture of plant-based proteins to close the gap between the perceived and actual meat-based protein food items, given that more and more consumers are

likely to add alt-protein in their dietary habits. However, this cohort also does not want to compromise on the taste and textures.

In today’s business, each action taken by an organization or a consumer can be seen as a data point to analyze their behaviour and future preferences.

Predictive analysis is helping consumer packaged goods brands, foodservice chains, and retailers to prepare their business goals for the next five to ten years. This, in turn, enables them to prepare their supply chain, inventory management, and operations, while enhancing their production capacities and capabilities as they can see into the future.

The food and beverage industries are also heavily dependent on other industries like raw materials, oil, and logistics, and thus, any volatility in these trades would also impact the food and beverage products’ pricing with a cascading effect on the end consumers. Food and beverage organizations are seeking support from data analytics to mitigate such type of risks attached to the larger economic forces. Data platforms are providing in-depth pricing analysis based on historical trends as well as looking into the current and future course of events to help businesses make smart decisions to better control the pricing for the end products. Therefore, data is helping both large and small businesses make calculated planning and forecasting choices.

Usage of data also plays a key role in the research and development and regulatory sensory insights fields too. Predictive analysis can help • determine shelf-life protection; • control quality and maintain standards; and • measure quality attributes, especially with the amount of alcohol in the brewing industry.

Industry professionals anticipate the role of data to only increase within the food and beverage industries for various reasons. As a result, more and more organizations will realize the incredible benefits that result from data trends and insights to enhance their food and beverage offerings.

Businesses will depend on it to make their planning and forecasting decisions cost-effective, guarding from external economic factors. And food professionals will innovate products even before consumer needs become wants.

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Giraffe Foods, is empowering business-to-business customers with consumer insights and food trends to help them understand the competitive landscapes

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NEWS BITES

Mercy for animals?

The third annual Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard was released by Mercy for Animals in October — a report that attempts to highlight pledges made by major food companies to address animal welfare issues within the industry and assessing the progress that they've made. In addition, the report goes one step further in offering its opinion as to whether it thinks the organizations have been transparent concerning their related progress. All of Canada’s major food companies operating today, including those in the restaurant, supermarket, food manufacturing, and food processing sectors were assessed within the report, which spotlights practices like the development of cagefree eggs and crate-free pork, among others, in an attempt to end industrial farming.

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Boost for Northern Ontario agri-food innovation

It was announced recently by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor) that an investment of $450,000 is being made in order to help support the continued development of the critical agri-food sector in the region while strengthening food supply chains for Canadians. In addition, the investment will provide a boost for entrepreneurs within the space by providing training, mentoring, and market development support, including trade show opportunities outside of the region. In addition, it will serve to support a shared commercial test kitchen in Sault Ste. Marie while also supporting other like-minded organizations in their efforts to develop similar food distribution and commercial kitchen infrastructure across Northern Ontario. It’s hoped that the investment and the work that it facilitates will result in improvements in packaging, processing, and waste reduction, and help promote the increased use of sustainable products, the strengthening and expanding of the country’s supply chain networks, and the development of new growing technologies including vertical farming and hydroponics prototypes.

Thinking inside the box to detect food contamination

Two researchers at McMaster University may have just revolutionized the way in which salmonella and other dangerous pathogens are detected within food.

Together, Akansha Prasad and Shadman Khan, co-lead authors of a paper that describes their invention, have created a new packaging tray that does just that, alerting manufacturers, packagers, grocery store attendants, and consumers of the presence of dangerous pathogens within packages of raw or cooked food such as chicken. The duo’s invention is a real game-changer within a number of different sectors, including restaurant, manufacturing and processing, packaging, and grocery, providing operators within each sector the ability to detect in real-time the safety of sealed food without the need to open packages. There are approximately 600 million cases of food-borne illness every year throughout the world, many of which are the result of the consumption of pathogen-contaminated food products. Although the invention created by Prasad and Khan is still in the prototype stage, they are hopeful that it presents a means to simplify cumbersome and expensive lab-based detection processes while reducing the number of people impacted by contaminated food.

NEWS BITES

Improving Canada’s food security

In an effort to help strengthen and improve Canada’s food security through the enhancement of growing best practices here at home, the Weston Family Foundation has launched the Homegrown Innovation Challenge, highlighting the necessity—and opportunity—for innovation, integration, education, and collaboration in the Canadian agricultural sector. The Challenge, which will award an estimated $33 million to growers throughout the country who have developed innovative ways in which to increase Canada’s fruit and berry production, was launched in February 2022 with 15 teams across Canada working toward food security improvements. Currently, there are 11 teams remaining. The challenge is also meant to help encourage Canadian farmers and tech innovators to play a more significant leadership role in the future of food production in the country. The competition will be whittled down to four deserving teams that will each be granted $5 million to build and demonstrate their systems at farm scale in Canada, with the overall winner of the Challenge receiving $1 million.

Reducing agricultural methane emissions

$12 million will be awarded to innovators advancing low-cost and scalable practices, processes, and technologies designed to reduce methane emissions produced by cattle. It’s a way by which Canada can further boost its progress toward 2030 emissions reduction goals.

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As part of its ongoing commitment to reduce methane emissions, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada recently launched the Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge. On behalf of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Francis Drouin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced the launch of the Challenge, through which $12 million will be awarded to innovators advancing low-cost and scalable practices, processes, and technologies designed to reduce methane emissions produced by cattle. It’s a way by which Canada can further boost its progress toward 2030 emissions reduction goals, and one that MacAulay believes will benefit the sector as well.

"Canadian farmers and ranchers are stewards of the most sustainable cattle in the world, and are continually doing more to meet the global demand for our world-class products," he said.

"By partnering with the sector, we can move further and faster to reduce agricultural methane emissions, and the new Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge will help the sector continue to grow, while contributing to Canada's 2030 methane reduction goals."

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FEATURE

MANAGING CROP

GROWTH IN

THE DIGITAL AGE Cutting-edge farm management software helping growers of fruits and vegetables enhance productivity and improve traceability

By Sean Tarry

W

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hen it comes to growing fruits and vegetables, farmers across the country are starting to turn toward tools and resources that can not only help them succeed and grow within today’s hyper-competitive market, but will also support their efforts in an increasingly digitized world. With this in mind, Canadian software developer Croptracker is dedicated to make global food production safer, more efficient, and more profitable through the continuous development of its integrated software and hardware solutions. In fact, according to Jeff Chemeres, the company’s Business Development Lead, the suite of tools that Croptracker offers the producers of fruits and vegetables is about as complete as it can be.

“Our system runs on modules that provide users with a number of different applications, with a host of benefits,” he explains. “Our technology can provide details about yields, right down to the row. Our technology can also be used to provide excellent product traceability, tracking everything including the location

of the field, grower who placed it in the field, the place it’s shipped, how it's packed, and everyone else who touches the product along the way.

We’re also very good at helping farmers track and manage their labour, including orchard managers and crew leads, making our software solutions some of the most comprehensive that you’re going to find.”

FEATURE

Quite the vision

In addition to these types of modules, including Croptracker’s farm, cultivation, and orchard management software solutions, the company also offers its industry leading computer vision technology. Aimed at helping growers increase the efficiencies of their operations, the size of their yields, and the quality of their product, it’s technology that’s helping growers at all stages of production to quickly, objectively, and accurately assess their crops. It represents a powerful piece of the Croptracker offering, one that Chemeres says helps the company make the biggest impact for its clients.

“Our Harvest Quality Vision is probably our most used and relied on module,” he asserts. “It’s an extremely powerful tool that allows growers to determine the colour and size distribution of harvested produce within seconds, capturing hundreds of data points for each piece of detected fruit in seconds. The scans, which are conducted via mobile device, are accurate within 3 mm in optimal conditions.

And, they can be shared with and viewed by a grower’s entire team to ensure that everyone is on the same page, enabling key decisions to be made quickly and with confidence. It’s also an incredibly useful tool in helping growers standardize quality control practices and procedures within their operations.”

Chemeres goes on to explain that as a result of the inordinate amount of data that’s generated through the Croptracker modules, it can all be leveraged by its clients to track their progress and the performance of their crops year-over-year in order to better inform future crops and practices.

It can also be used to course-correct picking during harvest, and allows for the recognition of like fruit which can be loaded together on the same truck

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The power of AI

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FEATURE

for shipping, and prioritization regarding which bins leave the orchard and in what order. Data can also be used to route truck loads to the most appropriate storage locations, removing the guesswork on arrival. It’s an incredible suite of tools and digital capabilities that Croptracker provides for its users, and one that Chemeres says would not be possible without the involvement of artificial intelligence (AI).

“Our entire suite of modules leverages AI in order to provide users with the most effective scanning and assessment tool possible,” he says. “However, our Harvest Quality Vision module is driven heavily by the power of AI. It works by using LIDAR camera technology in conjunction with trained AI models in order to be able to quickly and accurately identify any type of fruit, any abnormalities that it might contain, as well as other characteristics that are beneficial for the grower and their teams to be aware of.”

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Digitizing the operation

Because the large amounts of data that’s being captured through the use of Croptracker technology is being stored and backed up using cloud software, incredibly powerful centralized reporting is available to growers and their teams, enabling an extensive amount of post-harvest analysis to be conducted, benefitting growing operations immensely.

And, they’re benefits that Chemeres suggests would not be realized if it weren’t for the power of data-informed, AI-driven technologies like those developed and introduced

by Croptracker.

“I evangelize about the wonders of technology and AI-driven solutions every day,” he says. “And, I actually think it’s kind of funny that with Croptracker technology, we’re still sort of at the early adopter stage and have not quite yet reached mass adoption. But I believe that we’re nearly at the point where growers, despite the size of their operation, are going to need to integrate technologies and embrace their use, or they risk being left behind the rest of the industry.

Digital technologies removes a lot of the guesswork from

growing, helping operators manage their workforce more efficiently, predict outcomes with greater accuracy, and generally improve their businesses and bottom lines. In the end, digitizing the growing business today is becoming more and more essential, and will soon be the differentiator between successful growers and the rest.”

Further advancements

Looking ahead over the course of the next one to three years or so, and beyond, it seems as though Croptracker has the tools necessary for growers to digitize their operations and begin reaping the benefits of this type of AI-enabled and -driven technology. However, Chemeres suggests that it’s only the start for the Kingston, Ont.-based company, alluding to some innovations and developments that have not yet been introduced to the market, but which seem to be ready to add to the impact that Croptracker’s modules have already made on the industry.

“We’re absolutely committed to continuously enhancing and improving the efficacy and accuracy of our current tools and digital modules in efforts to help growers maximize the quality of their yields and optimize the data and information that their working with to improve their businesses," he said. "To that end we’re about ready to introduce the ability to not only scan the top of bins, but to scan trees as well. It’s a capability that will move data availability related to the grow even further back down the vertical chain, before the apples have even been picked. We’re also looking to digitize the traditional starch test which lets growers know when best to pick their crops. These are advancements that are going to eliminate the need for cumbersome processes, reducing the time required to achieve some of the results that Croptracker technology can arrive at in seconds. Essentially, what we aim to do is continue improving and enhancing our visualization technology and the solutions that we provide in order to further decentralize the growing operation and create greater efficiency along the way.”

FOOD RECALL: HOW MISSTEPS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF

A RECALL PROCEDURE CAN LEAD TO JUDICIAL ACTION M

istakes happen. With food manufacturing, mistakes can take the form of malfunctioning equipment or cross-contamination of ingredients.

Sometimes a key, trusted player in the supply chain sources an ingredient from a new supplier to meet demand, and that new ingredient contains an undeclared allergen. Sometimes, despite rigorous testing and sampling procedures, salmonella finds its way onto the production line and contaminates a lot.

For most stakeholders in the food value chain, mistakes are terrifying. Mistakes signal lost product, lost revenue, lost time, and energy, but most importantly, lost trust with consumers who relied on the safety of a consumable. Mistakes can signal the need to enact a voluntary recall of product, and thus converse with the regulator — the Canadian

Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and/or Health Canada.

Under the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA), regulated entities are required to prepare, keep, and maintain a recall procedure as part of their Preventative Control Plan (PCP). Further, regulated entities have to conduct recall simulations at least once every 12 months to test the viability of their recall procedure. These documents and drills are designed to prepare regulated entities for the probable: a mistake. And while they should serve to ensure corrective action in the face of a mistake, thereby eliminating the fear of judicial action, the reality is that any oversight or misstep in enacting a recall procedure can lead to court action, and in particular a class-action lawsuit.

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By Glenford Jameson and Cora James

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Mistakes signal lost product, lost revenue, lost time, and energy, but most importantly, lost trust with consumers who relied on the safety of a consumable.

With the 2023 decision of Bowman v.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, we learn that recall and refund programmes can be extensive and broad in application, but still not address alleged harm done to all parties affected by the recall. While this is not a food-related decision — it addresses bacteria found on flushable wipes in 2020 — Justice Matthews’ decision to allow a class-action lawsuit to proceed for the Personal Injury Subclass of claimants because they did not receive adequate notice of their right to make a claim for personal injury or adequate compensation demonstrates the need for regulated parties to engage all levels of the supply chain down to the consumer with their recall, and to document the process. An oversight in this case resulted in Justice Matthews’ decision to allow a class proceeding to commence in order to contemplate a wrong faced by those who claimed to suffer personal injury as a result of using the recalled lots of product.

It would be an understatement to stress the importance of being thorough with one’s recall procedure. Kimberly-Clark, for example, went to great lengths to ensure their contaminated wipes were isolated, destroyed, and generally removed from the market.

Kimberly-Clark worked with the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. and Health Canada to initiate a recall notice and issue it to retailers. They then followed up with retailers by phone to ensure affected product was removed from shelves. Following this, Kimberly-Clark set up a webpage dedicated to the recall with instructions for consumers. They posted about their recall on Facebook and Twitter. The recall was picked up by news channels across the country, and Health Canada published a notice

on its recall website. Some retailers even sent recall notices to their purchasers on Kimberly-Clark letterhead. Consumers were provided with refunds, albeit undocumented in terms of quantum and rationale for quantum, through an expanded customer service team that Kimberly-Clark hired to deal with incoming inquiries and refund requests.

And yet, these actions were not enough for Justice Matthews to find the non-judicial alternative of a recall to be sufficient in ensuring access to justice, judicial efficiency, or behaviour modification – the three objectives to consider when determining whether a class proceeding is the appropriate forum to redress a wrong.

The case of Kimberly-Clark is not an anomaly, though. A review of case law shows a history of class-action claims following an initiated recall. In 2018, for example, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice heard the case of Richardson v. Samsung, regarding a recall for defective cell phones. However, unlike in Kimberly-Clark, a class-action lawsuit did not proceed against Samsung Electronics. Judge Rady stated in the decision that “class-actions are an important vehicle to redress wrongs to those who would not otherwise bring action because it would be economically ill-advised.” Judge Rady determined that Samsung Electronics’ recall programme met the needs of access to justice, and therefore the corporation did not require behaviour modification. She wrote, “In my view, the defendant’s prompt response in concert with Health Canada to safety issues, the

Class-actions are an important vehicle to redress wrongs to those who would not otherwise bring action because it would be economically ill-advised.

- Judge Rady

recall, the termination of sales, and the compensation package, demonstrates the response of a responsible corporate citizen. It is behaviour that should be encouraged rather than discouraged.” In other words, Samsung Electronics had implemented a recall programme broad enough to redress wrongs throughout the supply chain: from consumer, through to retailer, and up to distributor.

To utilize an example relevant to food, the case of Romero v. The Meat Shop at Pine Haven was heard in Alberta in 2022 to determine whether a class-action lawsuit was the preferable proceeding for claimants to claim damages for consumption of pork contaminated with E.coli. Ultimately, despite issuance of a recall notice and working with CFIA and Health Canada to address the contamination, a class-action proceeding was found to be a fair and efficient process for resolution of the common issues. Likewise, a case before the Supreme Court of Canada, in 2020 saw Mr. Sub franchisees pursue a class-action lawsuit against Maple Leaf Foods Inc. for reputational damage suffered during a voluntary recall of deli meats, as well as economic loss. In this instance, the food manufacturer (i.e., Maple Leaf Foods) had an obligation to ensure the safety of consumers, but also to mitigate the economic and reputational, loss of its supply chain.

With this myriad of case law related to deficiencies in recall, procedures, what should regulated parties do, then, when faced with mistake?

First, the preparation and maintenance of a thorough recall procedure, and more generally a PCP, is important to ensure that everybody understands their role when faced with mistakes, and steps are followed to correct them. Regulated entities can make both preventative and protective decisions related to their recall procedures to avoid greater cost and stress when mistakes arise.

If a regulated entity is unsure about its recall procedure or PCP, contact a legal professional to review what’s in place.

Second, if a regulated entity determines that voluntary recall is the appropriate action to ensure the health and safety of consumers, consider engaging a legal professional to negotiate with the regulator on your behalf. Have a legal professional guide you through this crisis situation, as sometimes the stress of a recall leads to oversight or misstep.

While a legal professional is not a guarantee against court action, engaging one could make the difference between a Kimberly-Clark and a Samsung Electronics. And while regulatory processes are generally preferred to judicial action in Canada, and courts provide a great deal of deference to the decisions of non-judicial bodies, class-action lawsuits will continue to exist as an option for classes of claimants that otherwise do not believe their concerns have been addressed or fixed. For regulated parties, this serves as a reminder to prepare for mistakes, and work to ensure corrective actions are implemented throughout the supply chain when faced with them and voluntary, or mandated, recall.

For assistance concerning food recalls and the steps that should be taken by organizations, G.S. Jameson and Company.

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INVERTE:

TURNING FOOD WASTE

UPSIDE DOWN

Tracking food portions in real time to better manage food and labour costs and enhance operational consistency

By Sean Tarry

FEATURE

It was clear that the No. 1 cause of food waste in restaurants is related to inefficient and wasteful portioning of food ingredients at line stations within the establishment

s technology continues to evolve and advance, and the food and beverage industries consistently search for ways to streamline and optimize their operations, their intersect is about set to kickstart a revolution within the kitchen — a robotic one that automates some of the more repetitive tasks within a restaurant, reducing the food waste that’s generated, and significantly decreasing the negative impact that the foodservice sector has on the environment. And, at the leading edge of the kitchen revolution is St. John's, Nfld.-based company, Inverte.

Leveraging technology to eliminate food waste

Led by Founder and CEO Johan Arcos-Mendez, the company that specializes in intelligent portioning tools conducted more than 100 industry interviews to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the problem of food waste in kitchens and the ways in which it’s created in order to develop

the right solution to address it.

“After speaking with a number of different people working in and around the industry in a range of roles and responsibilities, it was clear to me that the No. 1 cause of food waste in restaurants is related to inefficient and wasteful portioning of food ingredients at line stations within the establishment,” he explains. “And, despite the kind of establishment it is, whether casual dining, fine dining, or fast food, the line station type of model is the one that’s universally used. And, because most of them also rely on the same or similar mechanisms to serve and plate food for diners without any way to ensure the correct or proper portioning of food and ingredients, relying instead on bagging inventory ahead of time, there isn’t a reliable and consistent way by which they can control portioning or cost. It’s a major problem within the industry, and one that can prove to be the difference between success and failure for some.”

Intelligent portioning

It's this combination, explains ArcosMendez, of helping to remove waste from our environment and supporting foodservice operators in their quest to optimize their operations and reduce their costs that drives him to do what he does every day. And, with the technology that Inverte has developed, he and his team are able to achieve both goals.

“With our technology, we’re able to help address the two main sources of waste related to portioning among kitchen staff,” he asserts.

“Overserving is likely the biggest cause of food waste, as cooks are basically eyeballing the portions of food and ingredients that they’re using, tending to use more rather than less of a serving. The other main culprit behind the problem is that of employee mistakes. When employees in kitchens make mistakes, it’s often the policy of establishments to discard

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plates that have been assembled wrong or contain the wrong ingredients. Each of these examples results in a significant amount of food waste, and obvious harm to the profitability of the business.”

Digitizing foodservice

In order to help restaurateur and others within the foodservice industry alleviate this problem, Arcos-Mendez and his team developed intelligent portioning which helps kitchen cooks better understand how to apply the right amounts of ingredients with real-time guidance, preventing overserving as well as underserving, and improving the levels of quality and consistency within the kitchen. Using digital scales and portioning tools in combination with advanced software, Inverte’s suite of solutions integrate effortlessly into any foodservice operation, providing an easy plug-and-play type of setup. And, not only is the integration of Invert’s technology easy, Arcos-Mendez says that it also makes sense from an evolutionary perspective.

“The fact that we’re helping restaurant owners and others operating within the foodservice industry digitize their businesses is a real differentiator for us at the moment,” he asserts. “We’re pioneering intelligent digital portioning and the only company that’s able to help foodservice providers track every single portion of ingredients used from their inventories. It’s helping users optimize their operations in a number of different ways, most importantly from a quality consistency and cost savings perspective.”

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Aggressive plans to scale

Arcos-Mendez is quick to credit the team around him for much of the success that Invert has already experienced, stating that it’s filled with innovative individuals who together combine their skills from a range of backgrounds, including software developers, hardware engineers, technicians, and marketers. He explains further that the company is currently entering into a project with the Canadian Food Innovation Network, which will allow it to expand its team further. And, pilots that were launched in early 2022 with the likes of East Side Mario's and Little Caesars have been incredibly successful, and have allowed the company to go through several product iterations, refining its technology to near optimal performance. In fact, the pilots have been so successful, with feedback coming in so positively, that ArcosMendez has plans to scale the Inverte solution sooner rather than later.

“We’ve got aggressive plans ahead of us,” he says. “Within the next 12 to 15 months, we want to place the company and our solutions in the position to be able to scale up across

North America. The problems of food waste and less than optimal performance are challenges that just about every player within the foodservice industry faces, despite where they operate, across the entire continent. And I really believe that with our technology and digital solution, Inverte has the opportunity to disrupt things in the best of ways and to make a significant impact by helping operators become more efficient and profitable.”

Disruptive future

The technology and solutions that Inverte is introducing to the market are incredible and are sure to help the foodservice industry strengthen operations. However, as Arcos-Mendez points out, he and his team at Inverte don’t have any plans on relenting the work that they’re doing just yet, and are working on further enhancing their solutions and benefits behind their uses.

“Looking ahead beyond the next 12 to 15 months or so, our long-term vision is to expand our intelligent portioning control technology and offer recipe guidance beyond restaurants, introducing our solutions to hotels and catering centres. And then, maybe a little more than a few years down the road, we’re working on introducing something truly disruptive, figuring out a way to allow diners to control their own portions, personalizing their orders right down to single ingredients. But, for now, we’re definitely focused on making our current technology and solutions that we offer as efficient and effective as possible in efforts to help foodservice providers grow and succeed, while eliminating the harm caused by food waste.”

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Why Figs

Figs are also a blank canvas for the world’s cuisine. From Mediterranean and Chinese to Indian and Japanese, figs and fig flavors are sublime in sauces, snacks, dressings, spreads, candies, baked goods, beverages and more.

The flavor is unique and makes any recipe or product distinct and delicious.

While figs continue to gain momentum as a culinary staple, their reputation as a nutritious addition to the diet also remains strong.

California Figs provide a nutritional punch that is unmatched by any other fruit.

In addition to being a good source of fiber, figs contribute essential vitamins and minerals to your diet, including iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B6 and copper. Figs are also rich in antioxidants, and are fat, sodium, and cholesterol-free.

Why California Figs California Figs are grown in the fertile soil of the Central San Joaquin Valley, home to one of the world’s most famous fruit and vegetable growing regions. Commercial fig orchards are located in Fresno, Madera, Merced and Kern Counties. California Figs are harvested in the late summer and early fall. California Dried Figs are available year-round while Fresh Figs are available May – November.

When You Think Figs, Think California!

California produces seven major varieties of figs: Black Mission (dried/fresh); Brown Turkey (fresh only); Conadria (dried only); Kadota (dried/fresh); Sierra (dried/fresh); Tena (dried only); and Tiger (fresh only). Darker skinned figs, such as Black Mission and Brown Turkey, are rich purple to black in color. Lighter skinned dried figs, such as Conadria, Kadota, Sierra and Tena, may be treated with sulfur dioxide to prevent browning.

Quality and food safety are among the highest priorities for California’s fig farmers. That’s why state of the art equipment and sustainable growing practices, such as water and tree management, are in place. In addition, California Figs are inspected by the Dried Fruit Association (DFA) of California to certify for grade and quality standards required by California’s Department of Food & Agriculture, ensuring California Figs are the best in the world.

California Fig ingredient products are unique to California. The ingredients were developed to provide solutions to product developer needs.

You won’t find many of these products anywhere else.

For more information, visit CaliforniaFigs.com

C A N A D I A N F O O D B U S I N E S S.C O M

Figs are trending! They certainly have their place in ancient history but today chefs and consumers are rediscovering the fig and simply can’t get enough. In fact, new products containing fig ingredients are on the rise around the world for flavor, functionality and nutritional benefits. This is likely due to the fig’s ability to fit into today’s top trends: organic, kosher, GMO-free, high-fiber, allnatural, gluten-free, trans fat-free, on-the-go and more

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FOOD WARE

Chop, chop The Talsa k50nb-neo Bowl Chopper features all stainless steel AISI304 external solid bowl made of robust cast, with liquid drain plug; powerful motors to process the most compact and even solid frozen meat; and an easy-to-use control panel with seven-inch digital touch screen and six membrane pushbuttons. In addition, the variations of cutting and mixing types with this bowl chopper are seemingly endless. talsanet.com

Got it covered?

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

46

The SureCoat® Breading Applicator by Heat and Control provides its users with the ability to uniformly apply pre-dust, breading, and flake coatings even to the most difficult to coat products, while achieving some of the industry's fastest changeover and cleaning times. In addition, the Breading Applicator also enabled superior coverage of all product surfaces using flour or batter pre-dust, granular, and non-free-flowing breadings, even delicate Japanese-crumb and flake coatings. heatandcontrol.com

Pump it up With a pumping process powered entirely by servo motor technology, Marlen's OptiServ 340 Vacuum Stuffer & Pump and OptiServ 340 Vacuum Stuffer & Pump each deliver exemplary high-quality output while dramatically reducing the complexity and cost of operating at peak performance levels. With unmatched product quality and appearance that the industry has come to expect from Marlen, the OptiServ series is designed to lower total cost of ownership and deliver significant savings. marlen.com

It’s a grind The WEILER 868 Grinder combines the unique Weiler® twin overlapping paddle mixing system design with the industry-leading engineering of Weiler® grinders to create a total solution that’s quick and gentle, ensuring the most premium end product possible. Plus, rugged, stainless-steel construction, easy-to-operate controls with clean mode provides for a safe and reliable sanitation. mmequip.com

Forming into something The Traymatic by Deighton Manufacturing UK Ltd. combines accurate food forming and portioning with an innovative product traying system.

Designed for continuous production within the bakery industry, the Traymatic is successful with a wide variety of mixtures and products. Maintaining the flexibility of the Formatic range of food forming equipment, the Traymatic enables the operator to produce multiple product lines. vancouverfoodmachinery.ca

FOOD WARE

Keep ‘em separated Improve protein isolate output and quality by cost-effectively separating suspended plantbased proteins with the Alfa Laval Plant Protein Separation System. Optimizing protein separation equipment with advanced technology reduces energy use and raises separation efficiency. Perfect for new installations or retrofits, this system makes it easy to install a new, energy-efficient plant protein separation system or retrofit an existing one while reducing the total cost of ownership. alfalaval.ca

Drum roll, please With 50-plus years of experience in developing coating machines and working closely with leading coating producers, the GEA OptiFlour is the first in the industry to work dust-free.

Combined with GEA OptiAir, coating processes are precise, clean, and with minimum waste. The clever design of the OptiFlour provides controllable, uniform flour pick-up and an adjustable top and bottom coating supply. gea.com

Cold chicken The CMP Poultry Giblet Chiller has been manufactured to serve as a trough chiller for giblets, heart, gizzards, feet, liver, and necks for today’s modern poultry plant. Available in several sizes, CMP’s Poultry Giblet Chillers feature a dewatering feed conveyor, central rotating paddle to ensure uniform chilling, and a dewater incline belt at the discharge. The units are indirectly cooled by cycling chilled glycol through a dimple jacket in a closed system. cmpequipment.com

The Rotary Drum Pasteurizer from Lyco uses an innovative rotating cylinder design to gently agitate products for rapid processing without product damage. The system can handle 5- and 10-lb. pouches with perfectly uniform process results while meeting all USDA/MID sanitation design features. Lyco Pasteurizers use specialized heating systems and controls, and a rotary drum cylinder that moves product quickly yet gently through the system. lycomfg.com

Put some mussels into it The C/E PC3 by Minerva Omega Group is an automatic machine made for washing and cleaning mussels, removing the algae and incrustations with incredible results, considerable labour savings and a minimum waste of product. Disc and stainless-steel baskets that are easy to remove allow for quick and easy cleaning of the machine’s parts. minervaomegagroup.com/

C A N A D I A N F O O D B U S I N E S S.C O M

Don’t forget your coat

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MOMENT IN TIME

The taste of

2024

Report reveals predictions for the trends and flavours that will whet the most appetites over the course of the next year

By Sean Tarry

A CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS VO L U M E 3 8, I S S U E 4 • 2 0 2 3

48

s we approach the end of 2023, everyone involved within the food and beverage industries across the country is beginning to look ahead toward the coming year and what it might hold in store for their businesses going forward. And, as much of their projections and looks ahead are often rooted to consumer tastes and preferences, any and all insights concerning their desires and appetites are coveted by manufacturers, restauranteurs, and other foodservice providers. With this in mind, The Hot Plate, Tag's Food and Beverage Center of Excellence for brands and agencies, recently released its 2024 Flavor & Trends Forecast report.

In the report, valuable insights and predictions are shared related to the latest ingredients, cooking techniques, and culinary ideas that are set to impact the food and beverage industries over the course of the next 12-plus months, driving innovation and further influencing the tastes and preferences of consumers.

MOMENT IN TIME

SUPREME FLAKE The croissant, known for its traditional layers and flaky texture, has become a canvas for artistic reinterpretation with its multiple flakey layers and decadent fillings.

WILD NOT MILD Beyond its tantalizing heat, spicy foods offer a sensory adventure, awakening taste buds and triggering endorphin rushes, providing a thrilling dining experience.

BALKAN CUISINE The fusion of Mediterranean, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern influences create a sensational medley of tastes, attracting food enthusiasts who seek adventure.

MINDFUL CAFFEINE Energy alternatives that don’t produce side effects.

EXOTIC FRUITS Undeniable, fruity flavours, bringing novelty and adventure.

FOOD FOR THE SKIN The convergence of culinary choices and beauty rituals.

GRILL SEEKERS The age-old sizzle of the grill adds a New Age flavour twist to food.

NEWSTALGIA Retro foods and flavours from long ago are becoming new again.

In addition, the report also offers a glimpse a little further into the future, offering a handful of other trends that it considers to be on the tipping point of making real impact on the industries: PIXELS TO PALATE While still in its infancy, 3D-printed food is gaining traction among chefs and food enthusiasts. Allowing for the assembly of a number of different, intricate recipes and culinary creations, it’s a technology that’s increasingly being considered around the world.

CULINARY CONVENIENCE The report suggest that other technologies like vending machines are also increasing in popularity due to the convenience that they provide users. Integrating a number of different technologies including payment, inventory management, and automated robotics, these machines are more than simply dispensers and could be set to become more mainstream.

ECO-GASTRONOMY As environmental sustainability continues to gain momentum in the minds of consumers around the world, its impacts are being felt everywhere, including within the food and beverage industries. In fact, the Climatarian diet, which is an environmentally conscious eating approach, is becoming more widespread among consumers and will likely begin influencing manufacturers and purveyors of food sooner rathe than later.

AI MEETS APPETITE Just as it’s influencing everything else around us, AI and machine learning will begin to play a bigger role within kitchens and other food operations within the coming years, allowing for greater personalization and quality.

To access the entire 2024 Flavor & Trends Forecast report, visit tagww.com.

C A N A D I A N F O O D B U S I N E S S.C O M

As a taster, the report offers the following eight trends that it suggests will emerge above all others in 2024:

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