Protein Industries Canada launches call for projects to explore the use of blending in ingredient and food products

REGINA — Protein Industries Canada is now accepting expressions of interest (EOIs) for a new round of technology projects with a focus on the blending of pulses and cereals to create plant-based ingredients and food products.

“As people look to include more protein and fibre in their diets, we are seeing demand for new functionality in ingredients,” Senior Director of Programs Lisa Campbell said. “Combining pulses and cereals can improve the overall protein and fibre content of the food product, while also combining to create a more complete protein. Combining pulses and cereals—two of Canada’s mainstay crops—can help food manufacturers meet the demand of consumers for healthy baked goods and snack food items.”

Through this call, Protein Industries Canada is looking to invest $10 million into projects to explore the blending of cereals and pulses, as well as projects that only contain cereals – with a preference to wheat or barley. This is the first time that Protein Industries Canada has issued a call specifically to cereal-based projects. Previous projects focused on establishing the infrastructure for crops such as peas and fava. While that support remains, it is recognised that expanding to include more cereals is key to furthering Canada’s ingredient manufacturing and food processing sector and building a stronger ecosystem overall.

In addition to the expanded call, Protein Industries Canada will also now consider projects with a minimum of two collaborators, a decrease from the previous three. One partner must be an SME, and projects must include the use of a high-protein dryland crop. Approved projects may receive up to 45 per cent reimbursement of eligible costs.

“Collaboration is key to the Global Innovation Cluster model, and Protein Industries Canada believes that collaboration along the value chain is key to advancing innovation in our ingredient manufacturing and food processing ecosystem. However, we have learnt that it can be difficult for companies at certain points of the value chain to effectively collaborate with multiple companies,” Campbell said. “Our goal is collaboration that is beneficial to all of the partners. So, while three collaborators is still our preference, we recognize that, at times, two may lead to a stronger project.”

Expressions of interest (EOIs) for projects may be submitted until Jan. 16, 2025; however, consortiums are encouraged to submit their EOIs as soon as they are ready. EOIs will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, allowing successful submissions to move to the next step in the process in a timely manner.