Agriculture Canada has announced up to $1,545,000 in funding for Outcast Foods Inc. to expand their operations in food waste reduction that upcycles surplus and unsaleable fruits and vegetables from growers, processors and retailers into dried, plant-based powders and solid food ingredients.

The funding will help to expand their demonstration plant in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and commission a new full-scale facility in Burlington, Ontario. Together the two plants are projected to process up to 35,800,000 tonnes of waste fruit and vegetables by 2024 into more than 4,100,000 million pounds of plant-based, powdered ingredients annually, a conversion rate of approximately 12 per cent. The plant-based ingredients created at these facilities are sold as branded health products as well as raw food and beverage ingredients that are high in nutrition, vitamins, phytochemicals and natural flavours.

“This funding gives us the capacity to continue to chart a path as leaders in the upcycling movement,” says Dan McKenn, CEO, Outcast Foods Inc. “We are scaling our operation, developing our inbound supply network with Canadian farmers, and growing our ingredients and retail sales pipelines. This funding not only supports operations but also sales, marketing, and talent recruitment.”

 The funding is part of the AgriInnovate program, under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. It’s designed to provide repayable contributions for projects that aim to accelerate the commercialization, adoption and/or demonstration of innovative products, technologies, processes or services that increase agri-sector competitiveness and sustainability.

 Source:  Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada February 17, 2022 news release