Semi-finalists for Streams A and B of the Food Waste Reduction Challenge
Backgrounder
May 7, 2021 – Ottawa, Ontario – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
The $20-million Food Waste Reduction Challenge was launched in November 2020 to accelerate and advance diverse and high-impact solutions to food waste in Canada.
Applications for Streams A and B, which focus on business model solutions that can prevent or divert food waste at any point from farm to plate, opened November 19, 2020 and closed January 18, 2021. An impressive turnout of 343 applications were received from innovators in Canada and around the world.
Today, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, revealed the 24 semi-finalists. Each will receive $100,000 in prize funding and move on to the next stage of the Challenge.
| Recipient | Location | Solution Description |
|---|---|---|
| Abokichi Inc. | Hamilton, Ontario |
Upcycling okara, the pulp remaining after tofu or soymilk production, to divert food waste into nutritious flour, noodles and other baked goods. |
| Blanc de gris - Champignons frais (in French only) | Montreal, Quebec |
Uses brewers’ spent grain as a substrate for the cultivation of gourmet mushrooms. |
| Circular Innovation Council | Orangeville, Ontario |
Improving the collection and recovery of edible food waste from the institutional, commercial and industrial sectors. |
| CryoLogistics Refrigeration Technologies Ltd. | Victoria, British Columbia |
Developing autonomous refrigerated shipping containers powered by liquid CO2 with real-time remote monitoring and data logging capabilities. |
| Enersion Inc. | Toronto, Ontario |
Portable, rechargeable cold boxes that provide cooling through storage and transportation of food, for an extended duration without consuming electricity. |
| Food Cycle Sciences Corporation | Cornwall, Ontario |
Provides food waste recycling solutions to consumers, businesses, and municipalities to help them keep food waste out of landfills and reduce the greenhouse gas impact of food waste. |
| Food for Life Canada | Burlington, Ontario |
Rescuing surplus food, sharing goodness with community, and returning inedible food and soiled cardboard to the earth through composting and vermiculture. |
| Green Circle Food Hub Ltd. | Orono, Ontario |
Selling 100% of food from small farms before it is harvested. |
| LOOP Juices Inc. / Jus LOOP Inc. | Montreal, Quebec |
Aims to assist various food companies in acquiring upcycled fruits and vegetables by transforming these foods into easily usable ingredients that have a long shelf life, such as dehydrated powder, frozen cubes and pasteurized purees. |
| NuLeaf Farms | Calgary, Alberta |
A vertical farm platform to convert existing warehouse space into automated indoor farms to grow sustainable, local food inside our communities all year-round. |
| nutriSCOPE Inc. | Woodbridge, Ontario |
Connects the supply chain to a digital ecosystem that enables transparency, traceability, trust and supports demand forecasting in order to optimize operations and minimize food waste. |
| Outcast Foods Inc. | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
Using fruit and vegetable surplus and by-products to manufacture dehydrated nutrient dense powders and pieces as well as its own sustainable plant-based supplements. |
| P&P Optica Inc. | Waterloo, Ontario |
Combines hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence in a unique way to assess food quality and find foreign materials like plastics, rubber and bone. |
| Satellite Farms Inc. | Toronto, Ontario |
Streamlines the process of setting up, operating, and scaling technology-driven indoor farms in urban spaces. |
| Savormetrics Inc. | Mississauga, Ontario |
Provides artificial intelligence-driven sensor systems that empower the food/ag industry to reduce waste and meet quality standards by growing, moving or processing inventory using predictive quality metrics. |
| Still Good Inc. /Toujours Bon Inc. | Montreal, Quebec |
Technology that transforms brewers' spent grains into flour to be sold as well as used in the company’s current line of upcycled products. |
| Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery Inc. | Burnaby, British Columbia |
FoodX Technologies, a subsidiary of SPUD.ca, has created an inventory control and quality assurance (ICQA) tool that leverages data and automation to manage food quality and reduce waste in grocery. |
| The Station Food Company (2019) Ltd. | Newport Station, Nova Scotia |
Upcycles unharvested produce into frozen vegetables and fruit puree scoops. |
| Top Grade Ag | Calgary, Alberta |
In bin drying (IBD) monitoring system and grain storage monitoring system. |
|
(formerly Trendy Vending Inc.) |
Burnaby, British Columbia |
A mobile processing unit, called BioTrim, turns misfit or excess food ingredients into a shelf-stable, nutrient-dense commodity. |
| TriCycle Inc. | Montreal, Quebec |
Producing high-quality edible insects in a circular economy for human and animal consumption in order to transform food waste into sustainable proteins and fertilizers. |
| Vivid Machines Inc. | Toronto, Ontario |
A spectral imaging sensor and computer vision system that captures plant data and provides insights on fruit/vegetable quality, pests, diseases, yield, and resource management. |
| Winnow Solutions Ltd. | Toronto, Ontario |
Building artificial intelligence tools to help chefs run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half. A UK-based company that is setting up operations in Canada to scale its solution. |
| Wisely Foods Inc. | Montreal, Quebec |
Taking a stand to reduce food waste by turning perfectly imperfect food into delicious and nutritious products. |
Related Links
News release: Twenty-four innovators advance to Food Waste Reduction Challenge semi-finals
Contacts
Jean-Sébastien Comeau
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
jean-sebastien.comeau@canada.ca
343-549-2326
Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
613-773-7972
1-866-345-7972
aafc.mediarelations-relationsmedias.aac@canada.ca
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