Nine companies join program aimed at advancing Canadian food supply chain

Canada’s opportunity to strengthen its economy and domestic food security by making more from what it grows is increasing, and companies from coast to coast are stepping up to help the country reach its full potential. Today, Protein Industries Canada announced the addition of nine new companies into its Strengthening the Canadian Supply Chain program, bringing new products to grocery store shelves and new benefits to consumers across the country.

By making more from what we grow, Canada has the opportunity to add upwards of $5.4 billion to its GDP, supporting 34,000 jobs. The Strengthening the Canadian Supply Chain program supports this opportunity by helping Canadian SMEs reformulate or develop ingredients and food products using Canadian inputs, improving cost efficiencies and strengthening the domestic food supply chain.

“Canada’s food production and value-added agriculture sector is built on strong foundations, but we have the opportunity to do more,” Protein Industries Canada CEO Tyler Groeneveld said. “Innovative companies across Canada see the potential in our crops—a potential that can only be reached through increased processing here at home, and one that will mean new food options and new economic opportunity for all Canadians.”

The nine companies joining the program are located from British Columbia through to Nova Scotia. Examples of their projects include the following:

• Nora’s Non Dairy, based in British Columbia, is developing and commercializing innovative plant-based dairy alternatives using Canadian oats, pea protein and faba protein. Through the use of fermentation and freeze-drying technologies to develop probiotic-rich, clean-label products for dairy alternative and snack markets, the company will expand Canadian oat and plant protein utilization in high-value functional food products and strengthen domestic processing.
• Sperri, in Nova Scotia, will replace imported plant protein ingredients with Canadian-sourced pea and hemp proteins in their meal replacement beverages. This will help the company qualify domestic suppliers, reformulate existing SKUs, and validate commercial-scale performance while maintaining quality and cost competitiveness, reducing supply chain risk, increasing domestic value capture, and supporting Canadian agricultural inputs in finished food products.