Fanshawe CRI & Food Producers of Canada partnership is a recipe for success - helping food and beverage businesses leap forward

Fanshawe?College’s?Centre for Research and Innovation (CRI) is proud to be a research partner for Food Producers of Canada (FPC) . Through this partnership,?FPC’s members?have benefitted from the R&D supports offered by Fanshawe's research team.

FPC is the chosen leader in policy consultation, issue management and resolution, strategy, and business development?for Canadian food-based companies. In addition to? an effective working relationship with government regulators both at the federal and provincial levels, the FPC ecosystem is broad. It includes value-chain members offering business solutions, grant services, and cold storage, academic partnerships,?and industry leaders. As a key research partner of FPC, CRI is proud to support member companies with R&D solutions to help?develop new products, optimize the manufacturing process, test products for safety and performance, and identify appropriate packaging options.

CRI operates four research centres and facilities that work?cross-collaboratively?to support small to medium-sized enterprises across Canada. Regardless of the topic,?CRI addresses any project?with a holistic approach to deliver on the?industry partner’s?objectives and?create value for them. CRI’s research centres are:

• Centre for?Applied?Research & Innovation in Biotechnology (CARIB): supports the food processing industry through developing formulations,?optimizing processes, conducting shelf-life and nutritional labelling, and developing novel methods appropriate to innovative products
• Packaging Advancement Centre (PAC): located at the Grove at the Western Fair District, supports agri-food companies through developing packaging for new products, exploring sustainable and safer packaging, and automating?the packaging process
• Centre for Connected Building Technologies (CCBT): supports the?advanced?manufacturing, building technology,?consumer and industrial electronics, and transportation and logistics sectors,?among others, through design and fabrication of printed circuit boards (PCBs), design, training, and testing of machine learning algorithms, processing and analyzing large-scale data sets, and optimizing and implementing Industry 4.0 technologies?
• Fanshawe Product Testing (FPT):?supports the advanced manufacturing sector broadly, including aerospace, automotive, defense, and transportation and logistics through mechanical, electrical, and environmental testing of products and materials, including tensile, impact, vibration, electromagnetic compatibility, thermal, humidity, corrosion, and chemical immersion?

Several emerging businesses that have worked on R&D projects with CRI have now become members of FPC, and have seen the benefits that the association offers them as they expand.

The Fritter Shop , a business?founded in 2016 by Fanshawe College graduate Kelvin Van Rijn , built upon the tradition of his parents' Dutch bakery and their famous apple fritters. Kelvin expanded The Fritter Shop into a successful business that makes?a variety?of Dutch fritters and is now growing into a franchise model with more location opportunities and even food trucks. The Fritter Shop has partnered with CRI for food innovation R&D to support its growth along the way. A recent project looking at process optimization resulted in production becoming six-times more efficient. Now, as The Fritter Shop looks at wholesale opportunities, CRI will be supporting the business with shelf-life stability studies.

"The Fritter Shop's past few years were all about growth and finding new channels to bring our fritters to the masses,” says Kelvin. “That wouldn't be possible without partnerships like FPC and CRI. From R&D such as shelf-life testing, nutritional information and ingredient decks to finding the proper connections and existing channels we can tap into, these partnerships have been game changing. FPC's President & CEO, Denise Allen, is a hands-on leader which I truly appreciate. She takes the time to check in with her members and is always looking for new opportunities or synergies within her network. As a newer player in the food manufacturing world, there is a lot to learn. Being a member of FPC and working with the CRI has made this process fluid and smooth."

“FPC is thrilled to welcome new members through our partners such as CRI," says Denise Allen, ICD.D , President & CEO, Food Producers of Canada. "FPC looks forward to supporting the growth and development of innovative food businesses on their path to increasing success!”?

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Learn more about Food Producers of Canada at?www.foodproducersofcanada.ca

Learn more about the food innovation R&D support and funding that Fanshawe CRI can offer small to medium-sized businesses across Canada at?www.fanshawec.ca/research

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