Grant: Engage Plus Grants for Colleges

Eighty-One Foods, a successful food company based in New Brunswick, Canada, recently completed a research and development collaboration with Holland College Canada's Smartest Kitchen (CSK) in the Spring of 2017 with funding support from a CCI Engage Grant. Eighty-One Foods produces Halal Bacon products in Atlantic Canada and distributes nationally. They required assistance from CSK to develop a Halal certified meat based protein bar for retail which could potentially be their main product line moving forward. Canada's Smartest Kitchen is dedicated to working alongside industry partners to help them innovate and prosper. With an increasing number of ""food tribes"" such as the Paleo community, the opportunity to create a meat based protein bar is an innovative way to expand into the snack food market. CSK worked closely with Eighty-One foods to develop 5 variations of the meat based protein bar that have scored very favorably in sensory analysis. The next stage of this collaboration is to continue with the R&D and product refinement in order to scale up production in a CFIA certified meat plant in rural Nova Scotia, Canada. Several challenges still exist in the scale up process including reducing water activity, and making modifications to the prototype to meet desired protein, sodium and sugar content levels which will be the focus of this collaboration.