Food News, March 2018

Webinars

No Fear Farm Finance
March 28, 2018
What money do you have to invest in your local food business? What type of financing fits your business? How much credit should you carry? Join Ron Lyons as he demystifies the finance puzzle that many small agri-food producers, processors and local food entrepreneurs face as they grow their businesses.

Farm Direct Marketing Trends in Alberta
April 4, 2018
The value of food purchased at farmers’ markets and farm retail exceeded one billion dollars and accounted for about 10 per cent of Alberta’s annual household food expenditure. Join Mimi Lee to learn the key drivers for the increase in direct marketing sales and see recent statistics comparing direct marketing farms in Alberta with those in other provinces.

The Alberta Employment Standard Code and You
April 18, 2018
With Alberta Labour opening a new office focusing on changes to the Employment Standards Code, this is your chance to learn how the changes will affect you as a local food business. Join Patricia Tolppanen to discover more about the Alberta Employment Standards Code
Register here for the above webinars; they start at 9 AM and run 60 minutes in length (including Q&A time).

Programs

Food Loss and Waste Cost-Share Program for Canadian Food & Beverage Manufacturers
Canadian Centre for Food Integrity and Provision Coalition invite food and beverage manufacturers from across Canada to participate in a new cost-share program that will tackle food loss and waste in manufacturing facilities. The first 50 food and beverage manufacturers enrolled in the program will receive 50-85 percent cost share (total project value of $10,000) for a facility food loss and waste assessment. For more information, contact Angela Van Arragon, 519-822-2042 x8 or visit Provision Coalition or the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity websites.

Farm Energy Agri-Processing (FEAP) Grant Program
 
The FEAP Program shares costs with the agriculture and agri-processing sector on energy efficiency investments. It is designed to encourage energy management which will result in cost savings, energy conservation, and ultimately, reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This program is retroactive to April 2016 with a 50 per cent cost share on most items. The maximum grant per applicant per year is $250,000  and applications will be processed in a first complete, first served basis. For more information, call 310-FARM or visit agriculture.alberta.ca/feap, where you can find application forms, a producer funding list, a processor funding list, and program terms and conditions.

Canadian Agriculture Partnership Federal Programs
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada delivers federal programs under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership aimed at generating economic growth in the agricultural sector.

Developed with input from provincial and territorial partners, as well as industry, federal programs and activities will focus on three key areas: Growing trade and expanding markets ($297 million); Innovative and sustainable growth of the sector ($690 million); Supporting diversity and a dynamic, evolving sector ($166.5 million).
Application forms and guides for the six federal programs under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership are now available.


Food Processing Development Centre

Are you or your company exploring the development of a tasty snack bar? How about an energy, granola, nutrition or protein bar? In 2017, the Canadian snack bar industry was valued at over $920million. The Food Processing Development Centre (FPDC) in Leduc, has a complete bar making line from mixing, rolling, cutting and packaging for product development and commercialization. The FPDC has developed various types of bars such as cranberry barley bars and hemp protein bars. If you are interested in using this technology to develop your own bar or expand your current line, please contact us at 780-986-4793.


Regulatory Updates

Health Canada - Consultations on Proposed Front-of-package Labelling
Health Canada (HC) is proposing to introduce mandatory front-of-package labelling for foods that are high in nutrients of public health concern, namely saturated fat, sugars and/or sodium and had launched a consultation on front-of-package labelling. The official Canada Gazette, Part I consultation will close on April 26, 2018. An one hour webinar on this topic was held on March 1, 2018. If you did not have a chance to attend, or would like to review the audio recording, please feel free to download the presentation or listen to the recording by visiting these websites: Presentation (PDF – 2.9 MB); Recording (MP4 – 189.5 MB)

Canadian Food Inspection Agency – Food Labelling Modernization Phase III
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has completed Phase III of the Food Labelling Modernization consultations and a "What We Heard Report" has been published. CFIA collected feedback from consumers, industry, CFIA staff and other stakeholders on proposals to modernize Canada's food labelling system. The "What We Heard Report" can be found on the CFIA's Consultations - Food Labelling Modernization Initiative webpage.

Health Canada – Next Steps on the Self Care Framework
HC is looking to update its approach to regulating self-care products with the aim of aligning the levels of oversight and risk to the consumer and helping consumers make better informed decisions. Based on feedback received from 2016 and 2017 public consultations, the update will be done in phases: Phase I - fall 2018, HC will propose regulatory changes for improved labelling of natural health products (NHP) and Phase II - early 2019, HC will propose regulatory changes to introduce a risk-based approach to the oversight of non-prescription drugs. At a future date, HC intends to introduce further regulatory amendments to address evidence standards for similar health claims, extend risk-based regulatory oversight to NHPs and cosmetics, and seek additional powers for HC. For information on the next steps please visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/self-care-framework.html

AFPA

Food Safety and Quality Training – 2018 Course schedule now available here
NEW - Vulnerability Assessment for Food Fraud Training - March 21, Edmonton
CanadaGAP Auditor Training – 1time offering - April 9-13, Calgary - 5 Days
Introduction to Food Safety & HACCP - April 23, Edmonton
HACCP I: Prerequisite Programs - April 24-25, Edmonton
HACCP II: Developing Your HACCP Plan - April 26-27, Edmonton
AFPA Workplace Health and Safety
NEW - Bill 30

AFPA will be providing ongoing updates as these proposed changes will take effect on June 1, 2018. Contact ed@afpa.com

Food News is available in pdf format: (313KB)

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