Food News, July 2009

AB Agriculture & Rural Development (AARD) Programs

AARD Workforce Development Program provides funding to assist agri-processing companies with productivity improvement projects. Eligible activities include lean manufacturing expertise to identify and provide coaching on process improvements or food processing engineering expertise to identify process improvements, technology and automation options and analyze costs and productivity impacts. Contact your AARD Development Officer for details.

Agri-processing companies and agri-industry associations are eligible to apply for travel assistance to perform recruitment missions to fill labour shortages they are not able to fill locally. Applicants can apply for funding for domestic job fairs outside of Alberta or recruiting missions internationally to interview and select workers. Contact AARD Recruitment Program Manager at 403-340-5369 for details.

AARD offers agriculture industry employers assistance with identification of turnover causes and the development of retention strategies. Funding sources are available, for details contact AARD Retention Program Manager at 780-980-4220 for details.

Are you looking for more profit? Do you want to increase your plant's capacity? Do you want to know more about the emerging trend of Lean Manufacturing?
The Productivity Improvement Project has launched this year's program for supporting assessments and coaching in the areas of: Automation/Equipment; Process Improvement; Lean Principles

All designed to save you money and time, increase your production capacity, reduce waste and boost your productivity!
Support is available for qualified agri-processors, to cover: 100% of lean pre-assessment; 80% of lean coaching; 80% of automation/equipment pre-assessments and in-depth assessments

There is limited space, so act now!
For more information, contact your Development Officer or Nicola Stevens (nicola.stevens@gov.ab.ca, tel 403-948- 8511)

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Food Processing Development Centre (FPDC)

FPDC is now home to the only publicly-accessible commercial-scale High Pressure Processing (HPP) machine in Canada. HPP is an environmentally-friendly technology used in food preservation, food safety and the development of new food products and processes.
HPP applies extremely high pressures, without heat, to food products. The fresh appearance, flavour, textural attributes and nutrient content of food products are maintained because heat is not used. Similar to canning and pasteurization, HPP increases food safety by eliminating bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Listeria spp.

In Canada, HPP is approved for use for ready-to-eat meats, ready meals, and applesauce. The FPDC is developing an HPP program to assist in research, development, and commercialization activities in the crops and meat product areas.

For more information, please contact Karen Erin at 780-980-4864.

Upcoming Events

2 Day COBRA (Commercial Business Return Analyzer) Workshop
COBRA is a financial analysis and projection tool designed to help food processors do financial planning. These financial plans are necessary for reporting to your financial institution to help you obtain financing, investors to help you obtain investment capital, and for the financial management of your own companies. COBRA is a decision-making assistant to help you decide on new product development, capital purchases, product sale prices and margins, cash flows and financial risk ratings. The workshop will show you how changes to your company can impact the financial risk that your company faces both positively and negatively.
July 23 and 24, 2009 at the AFPA Offices in Calgary.
$75 to register for the 2 days of training to cover meals, snacks and beverages.
To register call Melody Pashko at AFPA at 403-201-3657 Ext. 21

The Alberta Foodservice Show - September 27-28, 2009 – Calgary
The Alberta Foodservice Show is designed to showcase Alberta’s $8.4 billion foodservice industry. This year’s show is an important market-place attracting restaurateurs, chefs, qualified buyers, industry executives and decision makers.
For more info, contact Bruce Guerin at 866-751-3833, or visit the website at: http://www.crfa.ca/tradeshows/alberta/

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