Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Maple syrup production brings more than $800 M to the Quebec GDP and is a motor of the agriculture sector. With a production exceeding 150 million pounds in 2017, Quebec's maple syrup output represents 72% of the worldwide production. More than 94 million pounds are exported reaching 30 countries with a market value close to 114 million dollars. FPAQ represents approximately 13 700 producers in the province of Quebec and oversees the commercialization of bulk maple syrup. Though the ACER Center (Quality Control Center), the federation classifies maple syrup under strict guidelines and quality control standards and as such plays an important role for the industry. With increasing production each year, the FPAQ has to coordinate and control the quality of approximately 300,000 barrels (45 gallons per barrel) each year. Quality of maple syrup is directly correlated to its value on the market and the price paid to producers. The use of new technologies has extended the production period but also climate changes have given rise to maple syrup with bad taste or ""bud taste"" (qualified as VR5), a maple syrup not suitable for retail. An important step when evaluating maple syrup is the classification by ""tasters"" of products exempt of both unpleasant taste and odor criteria. Since this is done by ""tasters"", this evaluation can be variable (fatigue, number of samples to test, prior meals, etc.) and subjective to human evaluation. Thus, an objective and rapid test has been required by the industry for a number of years and would increase confidence in the classification for both the evaluation and producer. Furthermore, the increase in volumes in recent years lengthened the classification period, delaying the payment to producers. Having a rapid and reliable test has become a priority for the industry. With the increase of production of VR5 syrups, a method which would enable the extraction of molecules giving the bad tasting characteristic could be a means to bring those syrups to FPAQ standards and added value to producers.