Developing innovative Canadian ingredients for allergy-friendly food and snack options
Ingredients
Consortium Contribution
$4,590,561
Cluster Contribution
$3,284,579
Avena Foods Limited
Big Mountain Foods
Danone Canada
Old Dutch Foods Ltd.
Goal
To develop new oat and pulse ingredients to replace several common ingredients and processing aids in food and snack products, resulting in new offerings for consumers, including allergy-friendly alternatives.
Project Summary
Avena Foods is creating new oat and pulse ingredients by further optimizing and refining specialty-milled oat and pulse flours, while also creating specialty-milled pulse grits, meals and flours for each consortium member's unique processes.
Big Mountain Foods, Danone Canada and Old Dutch are using these new optimized ingredients to replace several common ingredients and processing aids in their respective products. These minimally processed ingredients are also being used to reformulate and develop new consumer-ready food and snack products that are nutritious and made from clean-label and sustainably sourced oat and pulse ingredients.
The new and reformulated products include yogurt, plant-based beverages and creamers, veggie links, cutlets, pastries, fillings and alternative non-soy/non-fava tofu products.
Results and Impact
- By using extrusion techniques, the partners utilized lentil ingredients to develop new snack products, which have been distributed throughout the United States. The partners will continue to improve the formulation of these snacks after the project’s completion.
- The partners also completed work on new products that will make their way onto Canadian dinner plates, including veggie/mushroom burgers, and a new coating for tofu. This new coating will enable the development of a range of new frozen tofu products, including cutlets, bites, nuggets and cubes.
- The expertise gained throughout the project will enable the partners to further improve their ingredients and finished food products, leading to new innovation and commercial opportunities.
