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Photo courtesy: Manitoba food development Centre
grade—fit for human consumption. But
that’s not the kind of food products the
AFDP specializes in.
“We do not plan to be CFIA-certified,”
Rimes said. “We do food-grade R&D,
but these items are not for resale. Any
research product or ingredient leaving
the AFDP has a sticker stating, ‘Not for
Human Consumption.’”
Instead, AFDP research priorities
include grain and meat science, meat
processing, functional foods, pet foods,
nutraceutical solvent extraction, and
fermentation of non-food products.
AFDP has eight labs for the crops
research unit, four labs for meats
research, and a microbiology lab. Future
plans include a pilot plant to manage
food-grade fermentation.
HIGH-teCH HeLPer
One company getting high-tech help
from the AFDP and other centres is
Ceapro Inc., an Edmonton supplier of
cosmetic ingredients extracted from
oats. Its core business is extracting liquid
beta glucan from oats and selling it to
cosmetics companies.
Breakthroughs in the AFDP lab can
translate into big business opportunities
for companies like Ceapro. Most
recently, in early 2014, the AFDP
found an economical new process for
purifying what amounts to the “anti-
itch” component of oats. It achieved
a purity level, in sufficient quantity, to
enable the component to be used for
health-related research. The compound,
avenanthramide, is normally produced
in oat seed at a level of only a few parts
per million.
According to Ceapro chief financial
officer Branko Jankovic, this marks the
first time that avenanthramide has been
separated and purified to this level.
“We have a relatively large amount of
highly purified natural avenanthramide,
for ourselves and our partners, to
investigate health applications. We’re
talking well beyond skin treatments,
to applications for seniors, to arthritis,
arteriosclerosis and perhaps inflammatory
bowel disease,” Jankovic said.
It’s not the first time Ceapro benefitted
from an FDC with hard-to-find equipment
and expertise. In 2010, Ceapro wanted
to convert liquid beta glucan to a
dry powder form for newmarketing
options. Jankovic found help at the
BioFoodTech FDC in Charlottetown,
P.E.I., which had the essential equipment
for super critical extraction. Using the
available technology, Ceapro achieved
its beta glucan powder—resulting in
a new product that is lightweight and
preservative-free, and has a long shelf life.
LedUC fdC
If the end use is human consumption, the
CFIA-registered Agrivalue Processing
Business Incubator at Leduc is the ideal
place to go for an Alberta startup. Staffed
by Alberta Agriculture food scientists,
engineers and technologists, it is one
of five facilities in AARD’s food and bio
processing division.
“They have an incubator setup so
that a client can come in with his mini-
business, set everything up as he needs
and sell his product right out of there,
and test the economics as to whether
it’s viable to build a commercial plant,”
Rimes said.
Other facilities in the division include
the AFDP, Food Processing Development
Centre (FPDC), Food Science and
Technology Centre and Consumer
Product Testing Centre. Together,
they provide full-service product
development, culinary evaluation and
sensory evaluation with laboratories and
pilot plant facilities.
“We tend to work with companies
that come with an idea or product who
want to optimize a processing technique
or recipe and bring their product to
market,” said Kevin Swallow, a food
scientist who has spent the last 17 years
at the Leduc FPDC. “Many companies,
especially the small ones, don’t know
what food safety issues they may have.
When we help them develop a product,
we help themmake sure it will be a safe
product to consume. Food safety is more
important than anything else.”
sasKatCHeWan fdC
In Saskatchewan, the Food Industry
Development Centre in Saskatoon
The Food Issue
2014
grainswest.com
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entrepreneurs can use facilities like the Manitoba food development Centre,
pictured, to help get their product to market.