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Centre helps food firms expand

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Published: May 24, 2007

LEDUC, Alta. – Food developers hope a new $25 million food development centre will be the stepping stone they need to grow from small scale production to their own manufacturing plant.

The Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator is the first of its kind in Canada dedicated to helping food processors scale up and commercialize their new food products and technologies.

“It gets past the primary products …. That’s exactly what’s going to happen here,” Alberta agriculture minister George Groeneveld said during the facility’s grand opening May 16.

“It’s a big step in the right direction for Alberta’s agriculture industry.”

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Qiang Lin of Siwin Foods, one of the largest food manufacturers in China, will move into one of the eight tenant suites in the facility within weeks to produce a variety of food, including Ukrainian sausage and shaved beef with an Asian twist for Chinese and Canadian markets.

Lin said the company wanted to expand its food production facilities outside China, but needed guidance before building a facility.

“It reduces risk and lets us invest with confidence. It’s a good thing for the company to invest here,” Lin said.

By using the Canadian Food Inspection Agency-approved facilities, the company can slowly develop its ready-to-eat food products before building its own facility, he said.

Noorwdin Jiwani of Aliyas Foods Ltd. of Sherwood Park, Alta., said his company plans to build a larger facility for producing Indian samosas and Indian meals, but the business incubator will help it iron out problems before construction begins on a larger facility.

Jiwani said he connected with the nearby Food Development Centre when he moved from Ontario in 1999. That facility helped him turn into reality his dream of creating Indian food. Working with the staff helped him switch from kitchen-sized recipes to full batch recipes.

The help he received at the Food Development Centre gave him the confidence to build his plant in Sherwood Park. Jiwani said the company has outgrown that facility and wants to build a larger plant. Moving into the incubator facility will give him the safe environment he needs before doing so.

Mark Redmond, chief executive officer for Ceapro, said moving from the Food Development Centre to the Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator was the next logical step for his company.

It used the centre to develop the technology to extract proteins from plants such as oats. He hopes the move to the business incubator will give the company a stable home and allow it to focus on building its business.

Redmond hopes to build a new facility in 24 to 30 months.

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