CFIA invests in Canadian tech to improve food safety

As part of the Canadian Innovation Week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is offering financial support through the Innovative Solutions Canada program to small businesses that are working to improve the health of Canadians, plants and animals.

Approximately $150,000 in funding has been granted to Precision Biomonitoring, in Guelph, Ont., to develop a handheld device to detect bacterial food-borne hazards.

Approximately $100,000 to Shaddari, Inc., in Montreal, to develop a computer model that could support vaccine matching technologies for FMD in Canada.

Approximately $150,000 in grant funding to HPP West Coast Facility, in Port Coquitlam, B.C., to develop a high pressure processing (HPP) technology that could safely control plant pests that are regulated and/or of quarantine significance in Canada to support the industry in exporting products to international markets.

“Our government is committed to supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses whose innovative ideas address some of today’s biggest challenges in a variety of fields, such as food safety, disease prevention in livestock and protection of Canada’s forests and food crops,” said François-Philippe Champagne, federal minister innovation, science and industry.