Funding for Innovation in Dairy and Food Products
The Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) has dedicated $6 million over a 3-year period to support product development initiatives that help grow the business for Canadian dairy products and ingredients.
Launched in June 2009, the new Matching Investment Fund (MIF) is open to dairy processors, food manufacturers and food technology centres and institutes to access up to $50,000 per project for consultations and $250,000 per project for product development. Projects which emphasize the use of solids non-fat ingredients such as skim milk powder, milk protei
n concentrate or liquid skim milk will be given priority attention.
Applications will be accepted up to July 31, 2012, subject to available funds. Information on the application process and the necessary forms are available at www.MILKingredients.ca.
The Canadian Dairy Commission encourages growth and innovation in the manufacture and use of Canadian dairy products and ingredients.
Reducing sodium
The new year often heralds the desire to eat healthier, and for some people this may include reducing salt from their diets. Currently, a lot of effort is underway to help people cut down on their sodium consumption. Recently, Health Canada published a sodium reduction strategy for Canada, outlining various reduction scenarios. These include actions for individual consumers as well as the food industry to voluntarily reduce sodium in processed foods sold at retail and foodservice establishments. The Sodium Working Group (which crafted the report) goes so far as to recommend that federal, provincial and territorial governments provide adequate funding to support the successful implementation of the Sodium Reduction Strategy.
One way government has responded is with the NSERC Industry Partnership program, with a focus on funding industry led research that will lead to reduced sodium foods. This could include research looking at ways to mitigate negative quality and safety impacts from reducing, eliminating or altering the sodium content of ingredients and finished foods. Other efforts include food centres with staff focussed on helping companies reduce or replace salt (and other less healthful ingredients and/or include more healthful ingredients). A report, coordinated by provincial food associations and a food technology centre, has been published offering reformulations for various prepared foods.
Researchers in universities and food technology centres continue to work with companies to reformulate their products, while ensuring quality and safety are not compromised. If successful, a significant question to be fully answered is – will consumers like it? Many of the targets are based loosely on reductions from other jurisdictions, including the UK. It is certainly fair for companies to ask if our palates are able to make the changes that are recommended for the Canadian diet. While there are sodium reduced foods in the marketplace (some notably for awhile), there doesn’t appear to be a lot of information about overall acceptance. We’re curious about the consumer response. What is your experience?
New blog for Canada’s Food Technology Centres
FOODTECH Canada is a network of food technology centres from across Canada. Everyday, centres work with the food and bio-processing industry to help them stay competitive by introducing new products, streamline processing or access much needed resources to support their companies. We will use this blog to share information from our centres that we think may be useful to the food sector and the other organizations that also support them. We’ll also post queries about what’s most important and interesting for companies on hot topics, such as “sodium reduction”.
We’re happy to hear from you if you have ideas or questions about any of our centres and ways to get connected.
FTC’s Renovation Update: Advanced Sensory Laboratory
Sensory characteristics play important roles in defining product quality as well as in attracting customers. The Food Technology Centre has invested in a contemporary Sensory Information Management System SIMS 2000 for sensory evaluation services. This is being installed in an interactive sensory laboratory adjoining the newly appointed product development laboratory. Renovations are on-going at the Food Technology Centre — after twenty-three years of fulfilling the technical needs of our clients, we are updating our facilities to better meet the challenges of current food product development. With the SIMS 2000, the sensory evaluation is computerized and streamlined for more convenient and accurate data collection and analysis. We can more efficiently measure any sensory attributes, such as appearance, odour, flavour, texture, and aftertaste. The SIMS 2000 lets us perform panelist setup, questionnaire and experimental design, and statistical analysis of data. Whether we are conducting shelf-life studies or new product development, our clients will benefit from this advanced sensory laboratory.
