BioLAB Spring 2024

LAB PROFILE

The Burrows Lab at the Michael G. DeGroote Institute of Infectious Disease Research

APPLICATION NOTE

Breaking down the foundations of bacterial resistance

FIGHTING SUBERBUGS OF THE FUTURE

Scientists and researchers across the country work to get ahead of the next viral threat

Battling antibioticresistant pathogens with innovative new material

GUEST EDITORIAL 4

FIGHTING SUPERBUGS OF THE FUTURE: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE RECENT PAST?

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PREPARING FOR THE NEXT GLOBAL PANDEMIC

Scientists and researchers all across the country—and the world—are working diligently to protect populations from harmful impacts of the next deadly virus

NEWSMAKER

PREVENTING THE SPREAD OF ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT PATHOGENS

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Canadian start-up advancing gynecological research and work by addressing pelvic floor disorders in women

LAB

THE BURROWS LAB: DISARMING BACTERIAL ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

COMPANY PROFILE

VIDO-INTERVAC: HELPING TO BUILD A HEALTHIER WORLD

THE JOURNEY TO FIGHTING DRUG-RESISTANT INFECTIONS FROM THE PALM OF YOUR HAND

UCalgary-led team helps develop app to tackle antimicrobial resistance

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Canadian vaccine and infectious disease organization, and centre for pandemic research, continuously working to protect communities all over the world from harmful pathogens

APPLICATION NOTE

DEVELOPING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF BACTERIAL RESISTANCE

SUZUKI MATTERS

CANADIAN

WORLDWIDE

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PUBLISHER & CEO

Christopher J. Forbes cforbes@dvtail.com

MANAGING EDITOR Sean Tarry starry@dvtail.com

COPY EDITOR Mitchell Brown

CONTRIBUTORS

Ian Hanington

Jacqueline Sinnett

David Suzuki

SENIOR Marlene Mignardi

ACCOUNT mmignardi@dvtail.com

EXECUTIVE

ART DIRECTOR Charlene Everest ceverest@dvtail.com

SECRETARY/ Susan A. Browne TREASURER

MARKETING Stephanie Wilson MANAGER swilson@dvtail.com

PRODUCTION Crystal Himes MANAGER chimes@dvtail.com

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PROTECTING THE WORLD FROM SUPERBUGS OF THE FUTURE

The value that we receive from the work executed by life sciences professionals every day, from lab technicians and researchers to scientists and biotechnology innovators, is largely unquestioned among its recipients. The work that they do helps to keep us safe and healthy, serving to maintain our well-being in the face of sickness and disease. This has never been any more evident than over the course of the past four years or so as the world scrambled to prevent populations from suffering the rampant negative impacts of the global COVID-19 virus. And, although the main thrust and spread of the virus has now subsided, laboratories all across the country continue to research and study the next threat to our health, safeguarding us against the superbugs of the future.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most significant medical scourges blighting populations of people all over the world. In this issue, we take a look at the ways in which an incredible free access mobile app is providing a starting point to help countries around the world fight antimicrobial resistance. Developed at the University of Calgary with help from a number of different partners, the app, which is adapted for eight languages, takes a One Health approach and is currently being used in over 400 hospitals and health care organizations spread across 13 countries.

We also sit down with Dr. Kenneth Ng from the University of Windsor’s Chemistry and Biochemistry department to talk about the importance of ongoing research that’s being conducted to better understand the COVID19 virus and its variant strains, enabling more accurate detection and tracking going forward.

We explore a revolutionary new material that’s being used to fight and prevent the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Created by Dr. Ronnie Banerjee and his University of Windsor Trant Team, the antimicrobial coating, which can be applied to doorknobs and other surfaces, could revolutionize disinfectant practices and protocols, potentially curbing the spread of dangerous pathogens.

In addition, we take the opportunity to chat with Dr. Volker Gerdts, CEO of VIDO-InterVac — Canada’s world-leading vaccine and infectious disease organization — about its groundbreaking research into emerging diseases and trailblazing spirit when it comes to vaccine development.

Finally, we profile the Burrows Lab, whic is led by Lori Burrows, Professor of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, and the work being conducted there to fight antimicrobial resistance and the potential posed by bacteriophages as a possible solution.

We hope that you appreciate the content that we’ve developed for this issue of BioLab Business magazine and look forward to feedback that you and your teams might want to provide.

Chris Forbes PUBLISHER & CEO

Funded by the Government of Canada

In Canada, the federal government announced the launch of a national Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy in 2021 to help address a “decadeslong decline in Canada’s domestic biomanufacturing industry”.

FIGHTING SUPERBUGS OF THE FUTURE: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE RECENT PAST?

BY KENNETH K.S. NG, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY, UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR

What have we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic? After more than 7 million documented deaths and estimates of over 20 million deaths by WHO, it is imperative that we learn from the broad and severe challenges presented by SARS-CoV-2 from 2020-2024. Now that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have passed, the biomedical research community has a moral obligation to learn from the recent past to help meet the ongoing public health challenges posed by relatively well understood pathogens, as well as the new challenges posed by less well studied or completely unknown pathogens emerging in the future.

Although the combined response of frontline health care, basic biomedical sciences, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and public health to the serious challenges posed by SARSCoV-2 was impressive in many ways, it is clear that many shortcomings also need to be addressed. Governments, industry, and organizations from around the globe are investing billions of dollars into efforts to prepare for future pandemics. In Canada, the federal government announced the launch of a national Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy in 2021 to help address a “decades-long decline in Canada’s domestic biomanufacturing industry”. This $2.2-billion investment provides broad

support for training, infrastructure, basic science research, and the development of biomanufacturing capacity and expertise.

Below, I suggest some of the priorities, opportunities, and challenges facing infectious disease research and development in Canada as we transition from the acute phase of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future threats.

BUILDING ON THE CRITICAL CONNECTIONS FORGED BETWEEN FOUNDATIONAL, BASIC SCIENCE RESEARCH AND THE BIOMANUFACTURING AND PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES

Decades of basic research on SARSCoV-1, coronaviruses, and RNA viruses, as well as the interactions of these viruses with human and animal hosts, paved the way for the rapid and effective development of effective infection control measures, diagnostic tests, vaccines, and therapeutics. The findings of basic research into the structural biology and protein engineering of viral surface glycoproteins, mRNA vaccines, lipid nanoparticle drug/vaccine delivery technology, and the focused refinement of pre-existing antiviral therapeutic modalities and specific drug candidates all played critical roles in accelerating the development of effective

vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Connections between basic research and the biomanufacturing and pharmaceutical industries helped to rapidly translate basic research findings into practical interventions, likely saving millions of lives and greatly reducing the need for infection control measures with huge economic and social consequences. Investing in training programs for basic science research and improving the connections between basic science research and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries will provide Canada with the ability to respond in an informed and expert manner to ongoing and future challenges from both well-known and emerging pathogens. Many other benefits to social and economic development, as well as international competitiveness, are obvious.

BUILDING A MORE ROBUST AND DATA-DRIVEN MULTI-LAYERED RESPONSE NETWORK

The lack of reliable, sensitive, and timely pathogen detection and sequence analysis pipelines during the early phases of the pandemic forced decision-makers to rely on strong infection control measures like border closures, restrictions on air travel, and remote learning to limit the spread of severe disease. The reliance on shutdowns and restrictions led to wide-ranging and negative effects on supply chains, education, and social interactions, creating major social and economic disruptions that have persisted beyond the end of the pandemic. As the pandemic evolved, the strengths of wastewater-based epidemiology and the impacts of rapid point-of-care pathogen testing, in particular, show how a robust, integrated, and multi-layered network to rapidly detect and understand

the spread of novel pathogens can enable decision-makers with the tools and information needed to control the spread of infection without relying on extreme measures. Developing, testing, and deploying a robust response system that starts with a trained biomanufacturing workforce and is driven by the expertise of entrepreneurs, economists, engineers, bioscientists, and social scientists in advance of future pandemic threats will reduce and hopefully eliminate the need, cost, and long-term impacts of strong infection control measures.

INTEGRATING LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT GOALS WITH PREPARATIONS FOR FUTURE CHALLENGES

Especially during the early and middle phases of the pandemic, the needs and priorities of low- and middle-income countries, Indigenous communities, marginalized populations, and the residents of long-term care institutions were undervalued when overwhelmed health care, economic, and political systems struggled to deal with high levels of severe disease and downstream effects. The Gates Foundation and United Nations agencies, among others, are helping to direct research efforts and limited resources to solving the problems that affect the most vulnerable and most neglected populations. The rapid spread of COVID-19 and other pathogens on a global scale shows how “no one is safe until everyone is safe.” By addressing the needs of those who were most affected in the pandemic, Canadian scientists in collaboration with the biomanufacturing and pharmaceutical industries have many golden opportunities to make longterm impacts on improving global health and preparing for future challenges.

Connections between basic research and the biomanufacturing and pharmaceutical industries helped to rapidly translate basic research findings into practical interventions, likely saving millions of lives and greatly reducing the need for infection control measures with huge economic and social consequences.

BY DAVID SUZUKI with contributions from The David Suzuki Foundation's Senior Editor & Writer IAN HANINGTON

GOOD JOURNALISM

SUPPORTS HEALTHY DISCOURSE AND SOCIETIES

Dr. David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Learn more at davidsuzuki.org.

Assomeone who has enjoyed a long media career, including 44 years hosting CBC TV’s The Nature of Things, I understand how important robust media is to a thriving democracy. An informed public makes better decisions about everything from health care to voting.

Unfortunately, some see an informed public as a threat to their agendas. Consider that one of the first things authoritarian regimes do is crack down on journalists and independent news outlets.

Outright crackdowns are often preceded by campaigns to discredit news media, calling them “fake news,” for example — as we’ve seen in the United States. This exacerbates the spread of misinformation (incorrect or false information), disinformation (deliberately misleading or false information), and propaganda.

This has become especially dangerous in a changing media landscape — and as threats within our power to resolve continue to increase, from pandemics to climate disruption to a worrying shift toward authoritarianism in many parts of the world, including the U.S.

Traditional media outlets have always reflected to some extent their owners’ (and advertisers’) biases, but journalistic standards, reader preferences, strong public broadcasting, and a range of outlets ensured that reliable information was relatively easy to find and assess. Even the amount of climate science denial in mainstream outlets diminished over time as journalists and readers challenged false information.

The range of news sources has shrunk considerably as traditional media outlets have increasingly been bought by a few large companies.

Internet growth has profoundly affected news and information media, for better and worse. In a world of online media outlets and streaming services, as well as social media platforms, the traditional model of selling ad space around articles is no longer viable. Advertising still supports TV and radio broadcasting and, to a lesser degree, online journalism. But companies must come up with creative ways to survive in a capitalist system and engage readers, viewers, and listeners.

With so much information now available online, it’s often

difficult to separate fact from fiction, truth from disinformation.

As newer online outlets emerge, traditional outlets are disappearing, only in part because of the internet. Many newspaper and broadcasting companies have been bought up by hedge fund companies and other corporate entities that strip the assets, take the money, and close outlets. Community newspapers — incredibly important to areas not covered by big city media — have been especially hard hit.

Recently, Bell Media decided to sell many of its radio stations, lay off thousands of workers, and end much of its news programming — including its groundbreaking, long-running investigative program W5. Although parent company BCE had net earnings of $3 billion last year, executives claimed the move was economically necessary.

British Columbia Premier David Eby argued that monopolistic media companies’ “encrapification” of local news is partly responsible for audience loss. “Bell and corporations like Bell have overseen the assembly of local media assets that are treasures to local communities,” he said. “Like corporate vampires, they sucked the life out of them, laying off journalists.”

With so much information now available online, it’s often difficult to separate fact from fiction, and truth from disinformation. But traditional outlets that adhere to journalistic standards and provide credible coverage on a wide range of topics still exist. The Guardian has led the way in reporting on climate change and other environmental issues, and sources such as the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Washington Post and Reuters still offer credible reporting.

The growth in new media outlets, often with a focus on critical environmental issues, also gives hope. In Canada, sources such as The Tyee, National Observer, The Narwhal, Rabble, The Energy Mix, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and others offer a wide range of investigative reporting, news stories, and opinion. There are also many good online community news outlets.

Public broadcasting is also crucial, as its coverage is not dictated to as great an extent by the priorities of owners and advertisers. But we’ve recently seen increasing attacks against, and threats by politicians to cut funding for, broadcasters such as the CBC in Canada and PBS in the U.S. The CBC has already suffered from cutbacks and should be given more support.

Good public discourse contributes to healthier, functioning societies with greater equality and less exploitation. We can all do our part to help journalism thrive by supporting public broadcasting and donating or subscribing to the many new, credible outlets and dependable traditional outlets.

DEVELOPING CUSTOMIZED HEARING IMPLANTS

Researchers from Western University in London, ON, recently made a significant breakthrough, potentially revolutionizing the way hearing implants are developed, programmed, and used. Leveraging the incredibly powerful synchrotron imaging capabilities of the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan, the team of researchers was able to capture highly detailed images of the inner ear and its minute structures that are responsible for transmitting sound signals to the brain. By capturing these images, researchers were then able to render them into three-dimensional composites that enabled intricate mapping of the ear’s structure. The results of the research team’s studies should allow for enhanced and customized hearing implants to be developed for those with hearing loss or impairment. Further, combining these findings with the team’s deep learning algorithm, means detailed mapping can be developed for each individual in need, allowing for the creation of implants that match the unique anatomy of each patient’s ear. It’s a discovery and breakthrough that’s being heralded around the world as one of pioneering status, paving the way for the continued advancement of hearing implant technology.

REPORT: B.C.

Improving COVID-19 antiviral medication

In an attempt to improve the health and well-being of immunocompromised people as it relates to treatment of COVID-19, researchers at the University of Alberta are diligently working to improve the only oral antiviral medication approved for COVID19 infections. Paxlovid, which was originally designed by Pfizer, leverages a secondary drug as a metabolic booster to help keep the active drug that targets COVID in the bloodstream longer. Unfortunately, the secondary drug involved can potentially interact with other medications in adverse ways, preventing immunocompromised people and people with chronic conditions from taking it. Leveraging the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan, the research team led by Joanne Lemieux, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Alberta, was given the opportunity to visualize and understand the drug’s molecular structure in significant detail, allowing them to identify modifications that can be made to improve its efficacy and accessibility. The team’s modifications have resulted in the secondary component of the drug no longer being necessary, increasing the percentage of the population that can take it and widening its potential future use.

LIFE SCIENCES LABOUR GAP WIDENING

Life sciences is one of the fastest-growing sectors in British Columbia. It’s facilitated significant innovation and has resulted in a number of opportunities based on growing demand within the province. However, there’s currently a marked gap in the number of skilled workers required to meet that growing demand. In fact, that number is estimated at roughly 500 people. And, according to a report recently published by Life Sciences BC, that gap in labour is set to increase to a worrisome 5,500 people by 2027. It’s a staggering projection, an 11-fold increase, that is causing concern throughout the sector, requiring immediate action to be taken in order to address the issue. It’s one that, according to the report, is largely being caused by competition for skilled talent from other provinces and countries,

combined with the high cost of living in Vancouver and the surrounding area. In addition, the report says: “Companies in Canada also face a shortage of mid-career professionals and senior leaders experienced in the sector, primarily due to the limited scale-up and commercialization within the B.C. and Canada life science sectors compared to their global counterparts. Moreover, challenges associated with international credential recognition may create barriers that inhibit the timely integration of skilled international workers.” In order to properly address the talent shortage, the report suggests the creation of a talent council, leveraging talent within underrepresented communities, enhancing training and development, and streamlining work visa processes for highly skilled individuals.

Continued growth for global biotechnology market

It was recently reported by Surrey, BC-based Emergen Research that the global biotechnology market size is set to reach more than USD $5 trillion by 2032. According to the global research group, the sector, which already enjoys more than positive year-over-year growth, is on the cusp of experiencing a rapid and significant compound annual growth rate of 13% during the forecast period. Emergen suggests that a combination of innovations and the advent of novel technologies, increasing medical applications of fermentation technology, and increasing research and development activities in tissue culture and cell engineering are some of the most critical drivers of projected global biotechnology revenue growth. A surge in innovation across fields such as biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology that leverages technologies such as three-dimensional bioprinting are helping to facilitate the continued upward trajectory experienced by the sector, and the robust growth that’s expected.

Saudi Arabia sets sights on becoming global biotech leader

A strategic plan was recently unveiled by the Saudi Arabian government, which aims at achieving global supremacy within the biotechnology sector by 2040. Part of a much broader national project that’s been called Vision 2030, which includes the country becoming a biotechnology leader within both the Middle Eastern and North African regions by 2030, the plan is meant to serve as a catalyst to boost domestic production, spur job creation, and drive economic growth. With the plan, which was recently announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country hopes that its biotechnology strategy will help advance Saudi Arabia’s capabilities across four main areas: vaccines, biomanufacturing and localization, genomics, and plant optimization. In the wake of COVID-19 and the resulting impact on the world’s population, Saudi Arabia is committing to sustained vaccine tech development with a focus firmly on developing enhanced manufacturing capabilities and establishing local biomanufacturing platforms.

SINO-RUSSIAN BIOTECHNOLOGY COLLABORATION AIMED AT ECONOMIC GROWTH

Just prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Russian and Chinese governments reinforced their collaboration in scientific innovation and technology. It’s a collaboration and partnership that can be dated back to the early 1990s and is focused today on pharmaceuticals and economic growth. China outlined its biotechnology goals within its Made in China 2025 strategy, which includes a focus on the development of innova tive medicine. Russia also announced its Pharma 2030 strategy in 2021, which aims to enhance the production of medicine and medical equip ment, and serves to encourage innovation within the country’s sector. However, one of the most significant aspects of the scientific partnership enjoyed by the countries is rooted in genetics and genomics. As a result of the immense genetic diversity within both nations, it allows for an unprecedented and unequalled basis on which joint research can take place in efforts to advance medicine to realms not yet imagined.

THE JOURNEY TO FIGHTING DRUG-RESISTANT INFECTIONS

FROM THE PALM OF YOUR HAND

UCalgary-led team helps develop app to tackle antimicrobial resistance

BY JACQUELINE SINNETT

Theroad to fight one of humanity’s greatest health challenges from the palm of your hand has been a long and winding one. The University of Calgary is the starting point of a free access mobile app to help countries around the world fight antimicrobial resistance.

It took almost a decade of research and collaboration with teams from across the country, including McMaster University, and internationally involving the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. John Conly, a professor and infectious disease specialist at the Cumming School of Medicine and Alberta Health Services (AHS), along with a team at UCalgary and AHS, has facilitated the development of an app to provide expert local knowledge so that physicians and veterinarians can make the best treatment decisions in an attempt to curb antibiotic resistance.

Tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a high priority for WHO as it is one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity. AMR is made worse by the over-prescription of broad-spectrum and unnecessary antibiotics. Prescribing

antibiotics correctly is complex and requires expert knowledge. However, easy access for doctors to that expertise has been difficult, particularly in resource-limited settings.

WHERE IT STARTED

In 2012, the app concept was created by two medical residents, Dr. Elizabeth Parfitt and Dr. Paul Campsall. Together with Conly, a software development group and a multidisciplinary team from UCalgary and AHS, the app launched in 2014 under the name Spectrum MD. It was first used in Calgary’s adult hospitals, with Alberta Children’s Hospital following a few years later.

Spectrum MD (now Firstline) is unique in its ability to be customizable, providing local statistics for specific locations by incorporating local sensitivity patterns to various types of bacteria.

The innovation and application led to the Canada Health Infoway and Accreditation Canada 2016 National LEADing Practice award.

“This national award made all of us truly realize what we had done as

a group and that it could have global reach one day,” says Conly. “It reminded me of the inspiring quote by Margaret Mead: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.'"

Following the award, the app was adopted in centres across Canada and internationally including the U.S. and the European Union.

ONE HEALTH APPROACH

In 2019, co-creation of the first veterinary stewardship app began with the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association through the Major Innovation Fund launched by the Government of Alberta. The goal was to create a digital app for optimal veterinary prescribing of antibiotics. The Firstline-Clinical Decisions veterinary app was born.

“Two essential elements of antimicrobial stewardship are the overall reduction of antimicrobial use and targeting the use of antibiotics when use is needed,” says Dr. Herman Barkema, scientific director of the Albertawide AMR-One Health Consortium

“ Two essential elements of antimicrobial stewardship are the overall reduction of antimicrobial use and targeting the use of antibiotics when use is needed. ”

- Dr. Herman Barkema

at UCalgary. "The app is instrumental for reaching both objectives: it tells the veterinarian not only when and when not to use antibiotics, but also what the antibiotic of first and second choice should be.”

Taking on a One Health approach, the app offers point-of-care treatment recommendations and other reference material for a wide range of animal health conditions in a wide range of species. It’s an ideal tool for rural mixed-practice veterinarians who treat companion animals like cats and dogs, as well as cattle, pigs, poultry, horses, and other species.

WHERE ARE WE NOW

Now, over a decade since the initial concept, the app is now called Firstline-Clinical Decisions. It has grown from an app used solely in Calgary to one that is now being used in over 400 hospitals and health care organizations spread across 13 countries, and adapted for eight languages.

With the addition of new standard clinical guidance in The WHO AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve) Antibiotic Book in December 2022, Firstline will contribute to combating global AMR by significantly improving antibiotic prescribing, resulting in better outcomes for patients.

In addition, the WHO AWaRe Antibiotic Book is now available on Firstline, free of charge in all countries. The partnership that has been established provides a historic opportunity to improve antibiotic prescribing, reduce antimicrobial resistance, and potentially save millions of lives.

“I’m so pleased to learn about the impressive Firstline app created by our UCalgary colleagues. The partnership with the WHO AwaRe Antibiotic Book makes a valuable tool widely accessible as clinicians work to address antimicrobial resistance,” says Dr. William Ghali, Vice-President, Research.

PREPARING FOR THE NEXT GLOBAL PANDEMIC

Scientists and researchers all across the country—and the world—are working diligently to protect populations from harmful impacts of the next deadly virus

BY SEAN TARRY

Although the most significant impacts of the COVID19 global pandemic seem to be behind us, for the most part, its lasting effects are not yet completely understood by scientists and researchers around the world. This poses potential challenges, both current and future, when it comes to protecting people against viral threats.

With this in mind, the federal government recently announced the development of a network of pandemic preparedness research and innovation hubs located across the country. The university of Toronto-led hub—Canadian Hub for Health Intelligence & Innovation in Infectious Diseases (HI3)—is focused on enhancing Canada’s ability and aptitude to quickly and effectively respond to any future pandemic.

The University of Windsor is one of the hub's more significant partners. It’s work that Kenneth Ng, Professor in the University of Windsor’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, says is critical in helping scientists better understand how certain types of viruses replicate and spread in order to protect the health and well-being of people everywhere.

We need to heed what we’ve experienced to ensure that we can respond quicker and more effectively to these types of threats in the future.

investment meant to support the creation of five research hubs across Canada through the Canada Biomedical Research Fund. It’s funding that he recognizes as critical to the continuation of testing and research. And it goes a long way, he says, toward ensuring the country’s preparedness planning and execution.

“It’s incredibly important work that the team here at Windsor, and teams at other universities and organizations all across the country, are doing,” he says. “The pandemic caused a lot of issues around the world, shutting down borders and disrupting communities everywhere. Things will happen. And, generally speaking, most outbreaks of that nature are somewhat unpredictable by nature. It makes it very important for scientists and researchers across Canada to continue conducting work meant to develop a better understanding of COVID-19, its spread, and apply those findings to prepare for the next pandemic. There’s definitely a lesson in here for us. We need to heed what we’ve experienced to ensure that we can respond quicker and more effectively to these types of threats in the future.”

Enhanced preparedness

Ng and his team at Windsor have enjoyed some of the initial wave of government funding that was announced a little more than a year ago as part of its $10-million

“It’s vitally important that government make these investments,” he says. “It’s support that encourages scientists and researchers across the country to be as proactive as possible in the face of threats that have yet to rear their heads. It enables us to move from a reactive field to one that is on the front foot, attacking these challenges face on in search of solutions to our problems.”

Securing our health and well-being

Ng goes on to explain that the research and work being conducted across all of Canada’s hubs is only made possible through close collaboration and the open sharing of information. He suggests that it’s the only way an endeavour of this size and scope will work. And he says that he looks forward to continue working toward a healthier and safer planet for everyone.

“It’s very important that everyone involved is pulling in the same direction, working toward the same goal. And, as we continue executing our work in the spirt of partnership and collaboration, we are closer every single day toward achieving enhance pandemic preparedness in the country, and a safer, healthier future for Canadians everywhere.”

PREVENTING THE SPREAD of antibiotic-resistant pathogens

BY SEAN TARRY

When it comes to sickness and ailments plaguing the general public at any time during any given year, one of the most harmful and pervasive causes are antibiotic-resistant pathogens that spread easily and quickly, from one host to the next, infecting otherwise healthy homes and workspaces. Their ease and speed of contamination is alarming, and it often leads to outbreaks and epidemics causing illness and death. However, thanks to Dr. Ronnie Banerjee and their team, we may now have a new means by which to combat against the spread of these nasty pathogens.

SANITIZING HIGH-TOUCH SURFACES

Banerjee, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Windsor, along with collaborators from the Trant Team recently completed the development of a unique material that may serve to significantly limit the spread of disease and pathogens, while

also helping to revolutionize the ways in which high-touch surfaces and areas of contact are cleaned and disinfected. Surfaces such as handrails, doorknobs, elevator buttons, and so many others are notorious agents or holders of these harmful pathogens. Banerjee’s invention may change that forever.

WHERE IT STARTED

The genesis of the breakthrough happened during the initial onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. As a result of the very serious nature of the pandemic’s spread, and the immediate recognition of the importance of disinfecting common areas, Banerjee and the Trant Team, which is a dedicated research group focused on the study and development of synthetic bioorganic materials, aimed their efforts at improving sanitizing practices and protocols.

SOLVING TRADITIONAL CHALLENGES

One of the more significant issues that Banerjee and the team noticed was the fact that traditional sanitization methods require the frequent use of bleach, applying it or similar compounds over and over again. It’s a job that’s required to be done multiple times throughout the day. This results in what Banerjee considers to be needless time spent, as well as the erosion of the surfaces in question, which could then lead to an environment more suitable to the gathering and spread of harmful pathogens.

A DURABLE MATERIAL

After months of research, and with help from the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan, the team of researchers was able to engineer a material that leverages copper’s natural germicidal properties, enabling easy and seamless application of the material to a wide range of other surfaces. In addition, the material is durable and, because copper nanoparticles are electrostatically attracted to the cell walls

of pathogens, they are able to infiltrate pathogens, weakening them and breaking them down to obsolescence.

The material that the team created, which combines ionic (salt-based) fluids and copper nanoparticles, has proven to be incredibly successful and can be used to coat surfaces, providing germ-free protection that lasts far longer than conventional bleach-based cleaning.

CONTINUED TESTING AND RESEARCH

Banerjee says that there remain a number of questions related to the copper-based material that need to be addressed. For instance, the team has yet to determine exactly how long the material remains effective against pathogens, or how its effectiveness compares to the antimicrobial effects of other nanoparticles like zinc and iron. However, as research and testing continues, it seems only a matter of time before these questions, and others, are answered.

The material that the team created, which combines ionic (salt-based) fluids and copper nanoparticles, has proven to be incredibly successful and can be used to coat surfaces, providing germ-free protection that lasts far longer than conventional bleach-based cleaning.

The Trant Team

The Burrows Lab: Disarming bacterial antimicrobial resistance

Work done at McMaster University laboratory aims to combat antimicrobial resistance in bacteria

BY SEAN TARRY

With respect to some of the everyday dangers that pose the greatest threat to the health and well-being of Canada’s population, few can match the destructive nature and capabilities of widespread harm than that of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. Without the ability to effectively attack a viral bacterium with antibiotics and other medicines, illnesses and disease can escalate both in terms of the number of people impacted and the severity of the impacts. With this challenge in mind, Dr. Lori Burrows leads the Burrows Lab, dedicated to working on enabling a deeper understanding of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria, and ways in which to disarm them completely, preventing their harmful effect on their victims.

“The Burrows Lab works on antimicrobial resistance in bacteria with a specified interest in biofilms, which are bacteria growing on surfaces, including medical devices, catheters, contact lenses, and so on,” she explains. “And, our ultimate goal is to figure out how to treat multi drug resistant infections.”

Leading lab

The Burrows Lab, which is part of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University, enjoys access to the university’s Centre for Microbial Chemical Biology, which is a high-throughput screening lab that can be used for the testing of all kinds of different drugs and compounds. The facility utilizes a robotic storage unit housing more than a half-billion compounds, each of which can be retrieved for users by robots seamlessly. Operating the lab since 2007, Burrows’ focus has remained on the research that she considers critical to human health.

“It’s really important for scientists and researchers across the country and around the world to continue researching antimicrobial resistance, especially today given all of the pharmaceutical companies that have recently backed out of the space as a result of low return on investment for developing antibiotics,” she says. “Their departure has essentially left smaller biotech firms and academia to conduct drug discovery in the space. It’s a scary challenge given the fact that many of

the antibiotics that we have are no longer working as well as they used to because of resistance.”

The importance of antibiotics

The seasoned microbiologist by training goes on to explain that, aside from the need for proper funding to fuel the required research, the critical need for effective antibiotics should in itself be enough to facilitate and elicit investor interest to help support the work done by Burrows and her team, and the work done at similar labs all across the country.

“If you think about it, what antibiotics do for us is essentially underpin all of the other fancy medicine that we develop and use,” she asserts. “We couldn't do organ transplants without antibiotics because you have to immunocompromise people in order for them to accept the organs. We couldn't treat cancer patients because we give them chemotherapy that causes immune compromising, making them extremely vulnerable to infections. We couldn't keep premature babies alive. We couldn't do hip replacements, knee replacements, all the stuff that we just take for granted as modern medicine. All of it relies heavily on the use of effective antibiotics. Even dentistry, for example, relies on the use of antibiotics. So, if the antibiotics don’t work, the rug is pulled out from underneath a whole bunch of other procedures that we expect.”

Phage therapy

As part of its ongoing research, Burrows and her team have started to pay particular attention to the study of phages and the ways in which they can be used as tools to combat certain types of bacteria.

“We use phages to probe different aspects of bacterial physiology,” she explains. “But we also realized that in the course of isolating these phages that they're really good at killing dangerous bacteria. They don't actually care if the bacteria is resistant to antibiotics because that's not how their mechanism of killing works. They just basically invade the bacteria, and then turn it into a phage factory before it blows up and makes new phages. What we’re really trying to figure out, though, is whether or not we can use a phage against pseudomonas to kill it. It’s an organism that’s very challenging to kill with drugs. If you were to use these phages in the patient, what would be the most likely route that Pseudomonas would use to escape from the phages? Just like antibiotics, the bacteria can become resistant to phages, and we're trying to understand how that could happen in order to inform methods of phage steering, which could ultimately lead to improved efficacy of treatments.”

Incredible promise

The Burrows Lab has actually been working with St. Josephs

Health Centre in Toronto to offer its phage therapy for patients with chronic urinary tract infections. And the lab’s leader says that results have been incredibly positive.

“Some of the patients that have received the phage therapy have been on antibiotics for ages,” she explains. “One patient who was treated for an infection that lasted years, and who had already lost a kidney to the disease, was obviously quite desperate to receive some help for her condition. After some phage therapy treatments, her issues have resolved. It’s really exciting to be able to use this type of therapy, which is a kind of new old therapy. It was discovered more than 100 years ago, but it sort of fell by the wayside because antibiotics were developed. They present a range of great opportunities to enhance patient care through an advanced type of personalized medicine.”

Thinning brain base

It’s incredible work that seems to be a great example of the ingenuity and innovation happening all across Canada’s life sciences sector. However, as Burrows points out, it’s ingenuity and innovation that is dependent on keeping our talented scientists and researchers here at home to further homegrown advances within the field.

“I’m an optimist by nature. However, the reality is that antibiotic resistance is increasing around the world. And, unfortunately, because so many companies have left the space as a result of economic perspectives, what we’re finding is that scientists and researchers who are doing work on antibiotics are leaving, too, for work in other therapeutic areas because it’s much easier to find a job working for a company that's developing a cancer drug or some other type of therapeutic medication. As a result, we’re losing our brain base within the field. And this presents a big problem because if we do eventually run out of effective antibiotics, without the prior study and research, who's going to be there to develop the next ones?”

Lori Burrows (left) Congo Red Coomassie Blue matrix mutants (above)

VIDO-INTERVAC: HELPING TO BUILD A HEALTHIER WORLD

Canadian vaccine and infectious disease organization, and centre for pandemic research, continuously working to protect communities all over the world from harmful pathogens

BY SEAN TARRY

There’s no questioning the severity of the impacts caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic, a virus that spread throughout just about every community in every country on the planet. Its indiscriminate brutality wreaked havoc worldwide, resulting in closed borders, a suffocated global supply chain, and hundreds of millions of confirmed infections that involved cases ranging from moderate sickness to death. In short, the pandemic disrupted and, in some instances, devastated life as we knew it. In light of this—and in an attempt to limit or prevent the spread of the world’s next superbug—VIDOInterVac, Canada’s national pandemic research centre, is focused on vaccine development and garnering a better understanding of the world’s deadliest pathogens. In fact, according to Dr. Volker Gerdts, VIDO’s CEO, it’s a passion within the organization that drives him and his colleagues toward their goals every day.

“VIDO is one of the most unique organizations in Canada, and the world,” he asserts with pride. “Everyone within the organization is dedicated to addressing real-world problems related to viruses

and diseases. We have obviously been incredibly involved in the COVID-19 side of research and vaccine development. However, a great deal of our focus is on dissecting and understanding in detail emerging diseases or new diseases that have the potential to cause big problems. It’s incredibly important work that everyone does here at VIDO, whether researching diseases and developing vaccines to address issues within animals or humans, in order to keep everyone safe and healthy.”

CANADA’S VACCINE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT HUB

The organization operates Canada's largest high-containment lab. Located in Saskatoon, the Vaccine Development Centre is a three-level facility capable of handling Risk Group 3 pathogens, some of the deadliest in the world. It’s a facility that came in very handy during the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, enabling VIDO to work with more than 100 different organizations from around the world to conduct testing on vaccine candidates, accelerating development for use on humans. It’s a contribution that Gerdts says VIDO

was thrilled to make toward addressing the global crisis. And, he says that’s something that also helped to reinforce the value that the organization offers.

“What we all experienced during the pandemic taught everyone, scientists and researchers included, the extreme importance of speed when it comes to the development of these technologies. And, it’s also shown us what we’re capable of achieving. Normally, the development of a vaccine for humans prior to the pandemic would take 10 to 15 years to gain approval and licensing. And for animal vaccines, it regularly takes five to seven years. But the pandemic showed us all that, with the availability of necessary resources, we’re all able to work much faster toward development and approval.”

SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGY

It might go without saying, but Gerdts stresses the critical nature of the continuous contribution to vaccine research and development made by existing and merging technologies. He says that none of these innovations and life-saving advances would ever be made without it, adding that much, if not all, of his daily work would no longer be possible to execute if it weren’t for technology.

“We rely on advances in technology,” he says. “It’s our support and the enabler for the ideas that we generate. Nothing would be possible without it. It

VIDO Containment Level 2 Lab. Photo Credit: VIDO, USask Photographer David Stobbe

provides the necessary infrastructure that we need to conduct our research and testing. And now, we operate a vaccine manufacturing facility allowing us to make vaccines for both humans and animals in one facility, which is really unique, tying into containment as well. So, we’ve now centralized research, early discovery, and development all in one location. It’s an incredible environment for researchers to do their work within, with access to all of the latest cutting-edge technologies and machines.”

PEOPLE POWER

Gerdts goes on to explain that the combination of state-of-the-art facilities, housing the very latest in advanced technology, is enough to make VIDO a world-class organization, allowing it to remain nimble and agile in the face of challenges. However, the underpinning of everything that it does, from research through to development and testing, is the group of like-minded, talented individuals that it has working beneath its roof.

“As an organization, we need to be really quick and willing and able to jump from one problem or challenge to the next, while finding solutions along the way,” he says. “What that means, however, is that the people within the organization become incredibly important – teams that are willing to switch projects and who are open to close collaboration and providing their

VIDO panoramic (top); VIDO Containment Level 3 Lab (middle); VIDO's Dr. Volker Gerdts (bottom).

Photo Credit: VIDO, USask Photographer David Stobbe

EXCITING WORK

This is a critical time for vaccine research and development. It’s time for organizations all across the country, and around the world, to increase collaboration and information sharing in order to get ahead of the next global health crisis.

expertise wherever it’s needed. We have the very best working here at VIDO, who all fit these criteria and work every day with a passion and dedication to what we’re trying to achieve. It’s the most unique aspect of the organization, and the element of the operation that keeps us moving forward.”

Currently, among a whole range of projects that the organization has undertaken, Gerdts speaks excitedly about its work involving prions, which are abnormal pathogenic agents that are transmissible and able to induce abnormal folding of specific normal cellular proteins called prion proteins. It’s groundbreaking work that he believes could yield dramatic results.

“We’re doing some really interesting and exciting research and work around prions,” he says. “Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease as it’s known to most, almost decimated Canada's livestock industry a few years ago, costing billions of dollars. Now, we’ve seen prion diseases infiltrate wildlife species, in deer and elk. This is scary on its own. But what’s worse is that these prions seem to have evolved and could potentially, one day, jump from one animal to another, and perhaps into humans. It’s only a matter of time before this happens, posing potentially devastating consequences for large populations of the planet. And so, we’re doing a lot of research on prions, to understand them better in order to preserve our health.”

ENHANCED PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS

Gerdts says that this is a critical time for vaccine research and development. He suggests that it’s time for organizations across the country, and around the world, to increase collaboration and information sharing in order to get ahead of the next global health crisis. And, he assures that intense research and vaccine development will remain the focus of VIDO long into the future in efforts to safeguard the world.

“It's really important to recognize the need for better pandemic preparedness. In fact, it’s certainly more important now than it ever has been before. Continued research on infectious diseases, and funding to support this research, is absolutely critical to the future of life on the planet. When we really think about it, the mortality rate related to the COVID-19 pandemic was not that bad compared to what could result from other viral pandemics. And that’s the point: without this type of specified research, we’d have no idea at all what the next pandemic might be until long after it spread. We’d have no idea about the possible mortality rate. That’s why we need organizations like VIDO to ensure that we maintain a state of preparedness in case of the worst.”

Developing a better understanding of bacterial resistance

BY SEAN TARRY

Inorder to make serious headway with respect to limiting, or eliminating altogether, the detrimental effects of bacterial resistance, a much better understanding of its foundations must be cultivated. With this in mind, scientists at the University of Guelph are working to study in significant detail the ways in which several infectious bacteria, including E. coli., build a protective sugar-based barrier that helps cloak their cells.

DEVELOPING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING

Led by structural biologist Dr. Matthew Kimber, the team of scientists and researchers have been embarking on a journey to discover and develop new treatments for E. coli, as well as a whole host of other bacterial infections. Their collective work has so far resulted in early progress in their efforts to strengthen their focus on better understanding particular strains of E. coli that cause urinary tract and bloodstream infections, especially those that are antibiotic-resistant.

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS

The main thrust of the research is aimed at understanding in finer detail the enzyme that is used by many infectious bacteria to build the foundations of their protective barrier. The barrier helps protect the bacterium from the human immune system and related attacks that are made upon it.

With the understanding that it’s futile to have vaccines and drugs target the barrier because only a handful of the bacteria would end up being effected, the team from Guelph leveraged the barrier and used it as a foundation that can serve as a common point of attack, allowing for a single treatment for several key pathogens infecting humans and livestock.

FIGHTING HARMFUL PATHOGENS

The team of scientists and researchers utilized the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan to enable their study and breakthrough. It allowed them to better understand the bacteria causing the formation of the protective barrier, the most effective methods and modes to target it, and the ways in which pathogens are rendered unable to survive.

It’s a massive development with respect to combatting bacterial resistance, and perhaps the beginning of new, specialized treatments for many different types of bacterial infections and disease.

Fractionation System

Users of MauriceFlex are provided with the ability to: work with fractions more freely; analyze intact mass, peptide mapping, reduced and subunit masses, and more; readily collect high-purity fractions without the need for further, time-consuming chromatography-based fractionation development; and leverage the ability to accomplish anything while using time more freely. bio-techne.com

Controlled pipette

The Mettler Toledo Rainin SP+™ serological pipette controller consists of a special extendable head for enhanced ergonomics. It also samples large volumes (ranging up to 100 mL) and provides the required flexibility for an extensive range of liquid transfer and measurement applications. The extendable head available on the SP+ can be highly adjustable to enhance maneuverability and pipetting ergonomics. This can be done even while working under a hood. Pressure-sensitive speed controls provide smooth, low-force aspiration and dispensing with the majority of liquids. When fully charged, the lithium battery delivers up to 15 hours of operation and up to 1 hour of operation after just 10 minutes of charging. mt.com/gb/en/home.html

Pure solution

The Arium Pro: Ultrapure is a reliable supply of ultrapure water, offering a versatile and modular solution when compared to standard devices, providing exceptional added value. All of the systems meet or surpass ASTM Type 1 water quality criteria, ensuring the most consistent results in their class. Per minute, up to 2 L of constant, high-quality ultrapure water with a conductivity of 0.05 µ S/cm (^= 18,2 MΩ × cm) may be dispensed. When an Arium® Sterile Plus final filter is employed, the ultrapure water is essentially microorganism-free. sartorius.com/en

Accelerate analysis

The ImageXpress® Confocal HT.ai HighContent Imaging System from Molecular Devices UK Ltd uses a seven-channel laser light source along with eight imaging channels to allow highly multiplexed assays while retaining high throughput by making use of shortened exposure times. Water immersion objectives enhance image resolution and reduce aberrations to allow scientists to see deeper into thick samples. With the help of a simple user interface and machine learning capabilities, the dynamic combination of MetaXpress® and IN Carta® software streamlines operations for better phenotypic categorization and 3D image analysis. moleculardevices.com

Chilling out

The 6000 Series Portable Chillers from PolyScience have proven over several decades and hundreds of thousands of installations that they are the most reliable in the industry, and an exceptionally smart choice for end users and OEM applications ranging from lasers and analytical equipment to reactors and manufacturing equipment. Providing stable and reliable cooling for many common heat removal applications, the 6000 Series includes laser etching, AA furnaces, ICP, rotary evaporators, vacuum systems, reaction vessels, plasma etching, and condenser cooling. polyscience.com

Diagnostic sequencing

The Illumina NovaSeq™ 6000Dx sequencing instrument is the company’s first IVD high-throughput sequencing instrument for the clinical lab. Push the boundaries of clinical genomics with scalable throughput and improved economics like never before. Conduct in vitro diagnostics and clinical research on a single instrument. The NovaSeq 6000Dx features dual modes for IVD and RUO applications, opening new possibilities across a range of sample types, sequencing methods, and clinical research applications. The NovaSeq 6000Dx system includes a DRAGEN Server paired with the sequencer, enabling streamlined and accurate data analysis. The intuitive software interface makes it easy to maximize analysis efficiency. emea.illumina.com

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the rise of cell-cultured food

PUBLISHER & CEO Christopher J. Forbes cforbes@dvtail.com

MANAGING EDITOR Sean Tarry starry@dvtail.com

COPY EDITOR Mitchell Brown

CONTRIBUTORS

Erik Dassof

Mitchell Scott

Amanda Wright

SENIOR ACCOUNT Leesa Nacht EXECUTIVE lnacht@dvtail.com

ART DIRECTOR

Charlene Everest ceverest@dvtail.com

SECRETARY/ Susan A. Browne TREASURER

MARKETING Stephanie Wilson MANAGER swilson@dvtail.com

PRODUCTION Crystal Himes MANAGER chimes@dvtail.com

CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Zack H. Abdi, Managing Director and Founder, Provectus Enterprising Inc.

Anton Angelich, CFS

Melanie Budicky, VP, R&D and Regulatory, Giraffe Foods

Dr. Hamed Vatankhah, Chief Executive Officer, Scipertech

Heidi Loney, Executive Director, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST)

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THE RISE OF CELL-CULTURED FOODS

As we continue to move forward amid a global food crisis, many companies and organizations around the world are working feverishly toward finding solutions to some of the challenges and issues. One potential solution, which is garnering as much controversy and pushback as it is generating positive and optimistic dialogue, is cell-cultured foods. With this growing market in mind, we dedicate this issue of Canadian Food Business to the promise of cell-cultured foods and their associated benefits and drawbacks.

Amanda Wright and Eric Dassoff from the University of Guelph contribute a comprehensive article that attempts to analyze the latest in cell-cultured food technologies and the potential implications relating to production to nutrition, and everything in between.

We profile Vancouver-based foodtech pioneer Cult Food Science, speaking with the company’s founder, Mitchell Scott, about cellular agriculture’s potential to revolutionize the food industry, by offering sustainability, safety, and health benefits. And, we chat about the challenges concerning consumer acceptance, and the critical need for education and familiarity to help drive adoption.

In addition, we dive into the Canadian Food Innovation Network’s recent Foodtech Trends Report. With a focus on cellular food and an ever-increasing interest and curiosity among the public, we take a look at some of the factors that are helping to contribute toward this growing practice.

And, we take a look back in Moments in Time to the history of modified foods. From modified processes to genetic engineering, humans have a long and illustrious relationship with food when it comes to our attempts to improve quality and yields. Within this article, we present a condensed timeline of the most significant food modifications made over the course of the past 150 years or so.

As always, we hope that you and your teams enjoy this issue of Canadian Food Business, and we look forward to your comments and suggestions to help us improve the content we provide.

In 2022, the Canadian Institute

and Canadian Food Business launched a partnership to create a platform for leading experts, innovators, and scientists to showcase the latest trends, knowledge, and developments that are changing the face of Canada’s food industry today. For further information, contact sbrowne@dvtail.com.

Publisher of BioLab Business Magazine

Sean Tarry EDITOR

CULT FOOD SCIENCE: PIONEERING A NEW ERA OF FOOD PRODUCTION

REPORT: INTEREST AND CURIOSITY IN CELLULAR FOOD CONTINUES TO GROW AMONG CONSUMERS

SHORT HISTORY OF FOOD

The importance and benefits of advances in the area of cell-cultured foods

By Mitchell Scott, Founder and CEO, Cult Food Science

As our world (and Canadian) population surges, there are consistently a lot more mouths to feed. Mouths that want to eat good, healthy, nutritious food. A lot of this food comes from industries that rely on large-scale animal agriculture operations and factory farms. This is where the field of cellular agriculture (or cellag for short) comes in.

At its core, cellular agriculture is the production of animal-sourced foods from cell culture. Beef and milk without the cow. Honey without the bee. Pork without the pig.

Think meat and dairy products that are exactly the same in terms of taste and texture as the products you’re used to but produced in a way that is better for the environment, human health, and of course the animals.

A meaty problem

Global meat demand is set to double by 2050. Currently, onethird of the world's land is used for animal agriculture. We can’t just double that, we’re going to run out of space! More than 99% of North America’s meat is produced in factory farms with a devastating environmental impact, significant health risks, and unbelievably inhumane conditions for the animals involved. We need a solution to this, and I believe that solution is cultivated meat.

By taking a small DNA sample from an animal (a biopsy from a cow or even a feather from a chicken), scientists then place this in a bioreactor and are able to grow or cultivate the meat we crave without the animal.

Cultivated meat from a few different companies has been approved for sale in Singapore, the United States, and recently in Israel.

Ten years ago, the first cultivated meat burger cost close to $500,000 to produce. That same burger now costs less than $20 to produce. There is still a way to go to bring prices

in line with conventional beef, but I am confident that with the advancements in the field, price parity will be achieved sooner rather than later.

Coffee, chocolate, and more

It’s not just meat and dairy that can benefit from the advances in the field of cellular agriculture.

Demand for coffee and chocolate is set to triple in the next 10-15 years. With a 2C increase in global temperature, 90% of current cacao farmland will be unfit for production by 2032. Add in the issues with deforestation and child labour and these two industries are ripe for a better, more sustainable method of production.

Canada’s role in the future of food

Where does Canada fit into this exciting new field of cellular agriculture? There are a number of companies in the space here in Canada including Opalia foods out of Quebec, which just closed a $2 million investment to help it scale its dairy platform based on mammary cells.

To truly become a leader in the space of cellag, our government needs to streamline its regulatory process for these new foods so that companies can bring products to market and show consumers the benefits of these technologies.

Scaling these technologies is also expensive. Bioreactors are giant steel tanks and they are expensive. I believe our government should invest aggressively in this space and support the startups innovating in this field. Let’s take some of the massive subsidies we are paying to traditional animal agriculture operations and put it towards new solutions that are tackling the same problems; namely, how we get more high-quality meat, dairy, and other animal products to Canadians in a safe, efficient, and cost-effective way.

You

need a food safety licence

NOW

Canadian Food Innovation Network awards $465,000 to six foodtech startups

In a release from the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN), it was announced that $464,518 is being awarded to six foodtech projects through the organization’s Innovation Booster Program. And, after matching contributions made by Industry, projects valued at nearly $1 million will be enabled through to execution. The Innovation Booster funding recipients are:

Project lead: GreenCo Robots Inc. (Alberta)

Project title: Integrated Table Tracking Solution for Quick Service Restaurants

Funding: $97,922

Project lead: Cheffer Technologies Inc. (Ontario)

Project title: Intelligent Menu-Planning Assistant

Funding: $94,415

Project lead: ProFillet (Nova Scotia)

Project title: Pilot Trails of Plant Based Nutritious Catfish

Funding: $94,107

Project lead: Dispension Industries Inc. (Nova Scotia)

Project title: Intoxication Detection System for Unattended Alcoholic Beverage Kiosks

Funding: $89,562

Project lead: Transport Genie Ltd. (Ontario)

Project title: Smart Real-Time Gas Sensors Development and Integration

Funding: $60,107

Project lead: JAKS Automation Inc. (British Columbia)

Project title: Robotic Paneer Handling & Packaging System

Funding: $28,405

The funding continues CFIN’s commitment to enabling and facilitating foodtech innovation and growth. And, according to the organization’s CEO, Dana McCauley, it’s funding that places Canadian companies at the fore of global innovation.

“These six projects represent CFIN’s vision for a future where new ideas and technologies create a more efficient, sustainable, and customer-centric food industry.

As we introduce intelligent solutions, autonomous robots, and state-of-the-art technologies, it’s clear that Canadians aren’t just embracing change in the food sector—we’re the ones driving it.”

Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN), has announced that $464,518 is being awarded to six foodtech projects through the organization’s Innovation Booster Program.

AI-generated cola?

Coca-Cola recently launched a brand new flavour profile to its historic lineup. Only this time, it’s a flavour that was co-created by the wonders of artificial intelligence. Coca-Cola Y3000 Zero Sugar is a new limited-edition flavour that is being hailed as the very first glimpse into the future of beverage creation, and includes a new AI-powered experience that will give fans a perspective concerning what the year 3,000 might be like. A product of the Coca-Cola Creations Hub, it’s something that the company hopes will serve to tap into human and artificial intelligence to understand how fans of the beverage might envision the future through emotions, aspirations, colours, flavours, and more.

Canadian Pork Council launches

new office overseas

As part of the Canadian government’s significant investment in the Asia-Pacific market, the Canadian Pork Council recently announced the opening of a new Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada office in Manila, the Philippines. A joint venture between Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the initiative emphasizes Canada’s commitment to strengthening partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region and enhancing Canada’s pork industry on the international stage. René Roy, Chair of the Canadian Pork Council, believes that the launch of the office is significant for the country’s pork industry. “We’re in Manila because the establishment of the IndoPacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada office marks a significant milestone for the Canadian pork industry. This initiative reflects our commitment to strengthening global partnerships and expanding market access for Canadian pork producers. By working collaboratively with our partners in the Indo-Pacific region, we aim to showcase the high quality and sustainability of Canadian pork while meeting the growing demand for safe and nutritious food products.”

Danone and its partners invest big to drive new ingredient and food product innovation

With an eye on satisfying the evolving tastes of the Canadian consumer, Danone, in collaboration with its partners, is investing $19.2 million to spark ingredient and food product innovation. The project has yielded new oat and pulse ingredients that have been created by Avena Foods that are currently being used by Big Mountain Foods, Danone Canada, and Old Dutch, and which are replacing several common ingredients and processing aids in their respective products. The result will be new offerings for consumers, including allergy-friendly alternatives. Pierre Morin, Danone Canada Vice-President of Research & Innovation, recognizes the importance of the project in meeting consumer desires. “Danone Canada’s mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible, so we are thrilled to be part of this project with Avena Foods, which will allow us to produce even more healthy and sustainable products locally. This collaboration will facilitate access to cutting-edge technology in plant-based ingredient production—allowing us to continue delivering on our promise of offering innovative and quality options for consumers.”

The best new products of 2024

BrandSpark International recently named its hotly anticipated list of its best new products. The 2024 edition, which is the 21st installment of the annual list, recognizes the best new products in Food, Beverage, Beauty, Health, Personal Care, Kids, Pet, Household Care, Home Goods & Footwear, Restaurant Menu Items, and Services based on a nationwide survey of Canadian consumers. It’s been noted that many of the leading food and beverage innovations have embraced alternative ingredients in order to cater to evolving dietary preferences, while several of the highest-rated products in the study delivered amazing taste in plant-based formats, accessible to those on vegan or lactose-free diets, or simply looking for an alternative. For instance, these five winning products all rated within the top 10 this year: Häagen-Dazs Plant-Based Frozen Dessert, Hershey's Oat Made Vegan Chocolate Creamy Almond & Sea Salt, Gardein Supreme Chick'n, Silk Probiotic Plant-Based Yogurt, and Gay Lea Pumpkin Spice Coconut Whipped Topping.

A NEW ERA OF FOOD PRODUCTION AND NUTRITION

By Amanda Wright and Eric Dassoff

Asdemand for resource-intensive food production continues to rise in a time when resources are increasingly constrained, ways of producing and consuming food will need to adapt. Still, many foods hold personal meaning and consumers find them hard to give up. Thus, there is a case for finding new ways to produce the foods we know and love. Everything from (or bio-)printed salmon, to cell-cultured steaks, chicken, coffee, and chocolate are already commercially available or under development. When it comes to these technologies, it appears we are only just seeing the beginnings of what is possible. However, while calls for responsible production have been echoed around the world, possible impacts of these foods on human health are not always clear.

New routes from farm to fork

Before talking about nutrition, let’s consider how 3D-printed and cell cultured foods are made. There is lots of variation between producers in terms of processes and ingredients but, on a basic level, bioprinting involves the use of food “inks”, extrusion technology, and computer systems to assemble

complex food structures. Cell-cultured foods are produced by isolating cells via tissue biopsies, and then growing these cells in nutrient-rich media before differentiating them into their respective tissues. The resulting amorphous biomass then gets structured into the final product, which may involve combining multiple types of cellular tissues, such as fat or connective tissue, that have each individually undergone the same processes. In some cases, cellular biomass gets combined with other ingredients, such as plant proteins, to reduce costs and/or to improve texture. Ultimately, cell culture and bioprinting are complementary tools that can be used to reconstruct a complex food matrix.

Zooming in on the beef matrix

You may have heard about the concept of the food matrix. Essentially, this means there is more to foods than meets the eye (and our taste buds). The food matrix encompasses everything that characterizes a food, ranging from individual components to how these elements combine into complex structures. What are all the compounds present? How do

they interact with one another? How are components located in relation to one another? How hard or soft is the food? How big are any lipid droplets present? How solid are these droplets? The list goes on.

Beef is an excellent example of a complex food matrix, and it is worth considering further because of the environmental case to reconstruct it without the cow. Through cell culture and bioprinting, it is becoming increasingly possible to create products that look remarkably like beef, taste like beef, chew like beef, and perhaps eventually cost the same or less than beef. However, it remains imperative to note that these alternative products are not nutritionally identical to beef. It is an immense challenge to recapitulate every aspect of a food matrix by combining their individual components. Beef, for example, is made up of many components: essential amino acids, fatty acids, structural tissues (e.g., collagen and elastin), vitamins (e.g., B6 and B12), minerals (e.g., zinc, iron, selenium), and other lesser-known nutrients (e.g., creatine, carnosine, squalene, etc.). This list is a mere fragment of the diverse array of nutrients present. Moreover,

these can be packaged into unique structures, such as the iron-containing heme protein. Such structures are additionally distributed in a heterogeneous fashion, creating pockets of vitamins, lipids, and protein. New technologies, including cell culturing and bioprinting, present exciting opportunities to closely model many of the characteristics of existing foods, but the food matrix is difficult to imitate. Thus, it is worth considering from a nutritional perspective how important true imitation really is.

Nutrition: More than the sum of its parts

Recognizing that foods are incredibly complex is fundamental to fully understanding their nutrition and health associations. Emerging research makes a strong case that the influence of the food matrix can lead foods with even identical composition to behave differently in the body. Moreover, ingredients can differentially impact human physiology, depending on what other foods and nutrients are consumed at the same time. For example, the digestion of saturated fat differs depending on whether it is consumed alone or with calcium-rich dairy because of insoluble complexes that form with the fatty acids, thus reducing lipid absorption. The size of lipid droplets can influence how efficiently digestive enzymes can release fatty acids for further packaging and absorption into the bloodstream. The hardness of a food influences how quickly it is consumed, which can also impact how much we end up eating at a meal. When proteins are delivered alongside certain plant compounds, including polyphenols, molecular interactions can alter protein digestibility. How much a protein is heated can additionally influence the strength of these attractions.

Thus, the above-mentioned and various other processes collectively influence multiple aspects of digestion physiology. They can influence what nutrients get absorbed, how quickly absorption occurs, what is fermented by our gut microbiome, what metabolites are subsequently produced, and how our bodies respond as a result. Consequently, while the information on a nutrition label indicates a food’s nutritional value, it tells an incomplete story in relation to health. When it comes to food manufacturing and product

There is also great interest in personalized or precision nutrition. Bioprinting presents the opportunity to precisely tailor the nutrient profile to meet the unique targets of an individual.

development, this means there is more to developing a functional food than to simply meet nutrient content targets. This consideration brings us back to the question of how closely novel foods need to replicate traditional products. The food matrix is clearly important, and it seems reasonable that consumers will often tend to expect that foods resembling a traditional product (e.g., beef) should have similar or improved nutritional properties. But let’s acknowledge that, even between seemingly similar products, equivalency is not assured. Extensive nutrition research is necessary to make these comparisons.

The challenges of nutrition research

The prospect of cell-cultured and bioprinted foods represents a paradigm shift in how we think about producing and formulating foods. Many whole, unprocessed foods have the benefit of being backed by decades of nutritional research, including multiple experimental models, (e.g., bench top studies, animal models, large-scale clinical trials, and prospective cohort studies). Each research model provides complementary information, despite limitations. For example, animal models can help to quickly evaluate the potential long-term impacts of consuming certain foods or diets, but those results may not translate to humans. Meanwhile, prospective cohort studies in humans provide long-term associations (i.e., 10 or more years) between food or diet consumption and health, but a diverse array of confounding lifestyle factors limits the ability to prove causality of health outcomes to the consumption of a particular food. Randomized controlled trials are the gold standard in health research, but they are costly, and it is tough to study health effects in a free-living population over a sufficient timespan for validated disease risk biomarkers to significantly change. As a result, the strongest nutritional evidence comes from combining information from different models to evaluate the totality of evidence related to the consumption of a food. Research evidence is inherently more limited for novel food products and is lacking in longterm follow-up data. It will be important to pursue clinical

trials to support nutrient-centric research and to ensure that any effects resulting specifically from the food matrix are validated.

Challenges meet opportunities

As our understanding of the food matrix and nutrition grows, it will become possible to apply technologies, like bioprinting and cell culturing, to selectively add or exclude specific compounds from a final product. It may be possible, for instance, to develop an alternative product with an improved nutritional profile over beef (e.g., lower saturated fat), while matching the traditional product’s taste, texture, and price. In this case, nutrition could present a competitive advantage over conventional beef or between alternative products. There is also great interest in personalized or precision nutrition. Bioprinting presents the opportunity to precisely tailor the nutrient profile to meet the unique targets of an individual, (e.g., medical diets in long-term care facilities or remote locations). The food industry should play a proactive role in transforming both food production and population health by conducting and supporting clinical nutrition research. Novel technologies present challenges, but also incredible opportunities to usher in a new era of palatable, sustainable, culturally relevant, and highly nutritious food products.

Amanda Wright is a Professor in the Department of Human Health & Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph.

Erik Dassoff is a recent MSc graduate of the University of Guelph where he was an Arrell Food Institute Scholar in the Department of Human Health & Nutritional Sciences.

CULT FOOD SCIENCE: PIONEERING A NEW ERA OF FOOD PRODUCTION

Vancouver-based foodtech company leading the cellular agriculture charge

By Sean Tarry

When discussing the most significant global issues that pose genuine threats to the health and well-being of people on the planet, one would be remiss not to mention the current food crisis hampering most, if not all, corners of the world. In light of this, food scientists and researchers everywhere are feverishly working toward the discovery or development of solutions that might solve for the issues and challenges around growing enough food to feed every mouth, in every community, in each and every country on earth. As a result, some are pushing the foodtech boundaries like never before in search of answers. And some, like Mitchell Scott, Founder and CEO of Vancouver-based Cult Food Science,

are helping to break new ground, pioneering a whole new way of looking at food production.

“Cellular agriculture has the potential to completely change the way we produce food,” he asserts. “And, the impacts can be felt across a spectrum of foods. There's cell-based meat and precision fermented dairy. There are ways to produce honey without bees. And each of these food production alternatives to our traditional methods helps to address a problem we’re currently facing. Even 85% of the world’s chocolate supply, for example, is at risk as a result of climate change caused by deforestation. Global meat demand is set to double in the next 20 to 30 years. Currently,

95% of meat produced in the U.S. is factory farmed in really bad conditions with really negative impacts on the environment. We're using a third of the world's landmass for animal agriculture. And we can't just double that as demand doubles. So, we need to figure out a different way of producing these products. The technologies that we have available today can help us produce the foods we all love that traditionally come from an animal in a way that, for the most part, takes the animal out of the equation, offering a far more sustainable approach to food production that’s much better for the environment, for human health and for the animals themselves.”

Supporting food innovation

Cult Food Science is an investment management company focused on innovators within the cellular agriculture and foodtech space. Scott explains that the company focuses on how it can help bring these cutting-edge technologies forward into the mainstream and incubate and support their developers in order to address the issues that we face.

For instance, there are companies specializing in cultivated meat, enabling small samples, or biopsies, of animals to be taken from them and used to grow the meat that we need without the need to grow the entire animal. This obviously helps solve for a number of different current issues, including our dependence on land to raise animals for food. However, the foodtech pioneer goes on further to suggest that beyond the environmental advantages offered by cellular agriculture, the quality of the product will ultimately win over any detractors of the technology.

“It’s a huge benefit for everyone involved to not require these massive industrial operations to produce animals and kill them at scale,” he says. “With these technologies, we can take a more science-based approach and just produce the part of the animal that we want. But the real benefit is that on a cellular level, the quality of the product is identical to traditional meat product. The technology will become so advanced and precise that cultivated meat and other foods will look, tase, feel and smell exactly the same to the end consumer.

"On a cellular level, the quality of the product is identical to traditional meat product. The technology will become so advanced and precise that cultivated meat and other foods will look, tase, feel and smell."

Plant-based foods are great. But those products just don’t quite deliver on taste, texture, or overall experience. And so, I think that's the true promise of all these different types of technologies is that they're going to produce a product that’s the same as the real thing. They're just going to be made in a very different way that's much, much better for everyone involved.”

Education is needed

To that point, in order to properly present the benefits and quality of cultivated foods to the end consumer, Scott believes that the burgeoning industry needs to be a much better job of informing and providing all of the facts in order to ensure continued growth and increased interest among the public.

“There are a whole bunch of huge opportunities around education,” he says. “The industry’s got to work to change consumer perception. Lab-grown meat still sounds a little

scary to some people. They think that it isn’t natural and can’t seem to get past that perspective. Just as is the case with any new technology, there are questions concerning credibility, quality, legitimacy, and rightly so. If people first understood that the way most meat in North America is produced is not coming from happy cows on farms, and that it's coming from these huge operations that are incredibly disruptive, they might look at things a little differently. If we can educate people to recognize that cell-cultured meat is in so many ways a cleaner, safer, and healthier way of producing meat, then we’ll likely start to see perceptions really begin to change. Many of these technologies and new products are only starting to hit the market. So, it’s going to take a little time for people to come around to it. But, in the shorter term, there are definitely opportunities around providing people with the right information to enable their decision-making.”

World-changing opportunity

Currently, Cult Food Science works with premium pet food brand Noochies!, cell-based sparkling coffee brand Zero Coffee, and cell-based performance gummies brand Free Candy to help enable the production of some of the first cell-cultured foods on the Canadian market, with many more in the works. In fact, it is currently partnering with 18 different companies across the sector in efforts to support the production of a wide range of food products, including cultured proteins, meat, dairy, coffee, seafood, honey, and ethical chocolate. It’s an ambitious portfolio of work and investment that Scott recognizes. However, it’s work and investment that he believes is helping to pave the way forward toward a healthier, safer, and more environmentally sustainable form of food production.

“Because many of these technologies are very new to

the market, there are challenges scaling up production and adoption. Large bioreactors are required, which are not cheap. This is where government support is required. There are a ton of subsidies for traditional animal agriculture. I think our government really needs to do more to invest in and support these companies so they can scale and reach the true benefits of these technologies for all Canadians. It’s what we’re extremely focused on: helping these companies become successful and change the world. It’s going to be important to really grow the cell-cultured food ecosystem over the course of the next couple of years in order to achieve scale and help introduce these amazing products to the market and end consumer. The more consumers see these products available and try them, realizing that they're as good as the traditional product, the easier it will be to accelerate growth of the industry.”

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REPORT: Interest and curiosity in cellular food continues to grow among consumers

By Sean Tarry

The Canadian Food Innovation Network recently released a report titled Canadian FoodTech Trends: Interest and Curiosity in Cellular Food Continues to Grow . The report explores the growing practice of cellular agriculture and potential it poses to dramatically alter how we produce, purchase and consume food, while offering enormous financial opportunities to Canadian producers and exporters.

Working with Moncton, NB-based data science company Fiddlehead Technology to develop the report, consumer interest in cellular meat is examined, as well as the progress of and research and development in the sector by Canadian companies.

HERE ARE THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE REPORT:

Researchers are prioritizing cellular food Food scientists and engineers worldwide are diving into the cellular food sector. Fiddlehead found that there were 22,800 academic papers related to cultivated meat published in the past five years, roughly the same number of papers published in total before 2000.

Patent appllications for cellular meat are increasing

The U.S., where cultivated meat recently hit the market,

had 596 patent applications for cellular meat in 2022, compared to just 48 before 2000. By comparison, there were no Canadian patent applications for cellular meat before 2000, and just 22 by 2022. At the same time, the number of Canadian companies producing cultivated meat continues to grow.

Regulatory hurdles still exist

While countries like the U.S. and Singapore already have regulatory approval for the sale of lab-grown meat, products for sale in Canada will need to go through the lengthy approval process for novel foods, as well as meeting requirements for food safety, labelling, marketing and other existing regulations. That could mean products will be slower to hit the market, while Canadian regulators re-examine the framework for cultivated meat and develop new regulations specific to the category.

The report also pays particular attention to the growth of cell-cultured meats. In addition to the standard regulatory hurdles that must be overcome in order to manufacture cell-cultured meats, the report offers a couple other challenges that are faced by the manufacturers of meat.

Consumer adoption

As with any new food product, the ultimate success of cellular meat depends on consumer acceptance. Current consumer internet searches related to cellular meat in the U.S. and Canada are consistent with the findings of a 2022 study analyzing 43 peer-reviewed articles on consumer attitudes towards the category. The study identified the most important factors influencing consumer adoption of lab-grown meat included public awareness and perceived naturalness. Food neophobia (the reluctance to try novel or unknown food) and uncertainties around health benefits and safety also represent important barriers. The study also found ethical and environmental concerns prompted consumer willingness to pay a premium price for meat substitutes, but not necessarily for cellular meat. Most cellular meat manufacturers are building brand promises based on animal welfare and sustainability. However, additional marketing efforts are required to raise consumer awareness of the cellular meat category and alleviate health and safety concerns. Monitoring news media and consumer internet searches can help identify key issues and inflection points in public sentiment. Consumer doubts about the taste and enjoyment of cellular meat will also need to be addressed by industry to ensure adoption.

Scaling production

According to the Good Food Institute (GFI), global investments in cellular meat total $2.78 billion USD since 2016 and $896 million (32%) was raised in 2022 alone. However, manufacturers will still require significant follow-on funding to scale production and reach price parity with conventional meat. If consumers prove reluctant to pay a premium for cellular meat based on ethical and environmental values alone, this path to price parity becomes even more important. But scaling production may present a significant challenge given the nascent supply chain for key inputs like massive bioreactors and the nutrient mix to feed cells. Manufacturers must therefore closely align with both their investors and supply chain partners on long-term growth plans. This will ensure they can survive a potentially protracted consumer adoption curve and avoid having financing or infrastructure become a bottleneck as the cultivated meet category matures. Monitoring patents and academic research can help identify innovative production technologies and partners to reduce manufacturing costs at scale, while improving key sensory attributes for cultivated meat like taste and texture.

Good vibrations

Whether you need a high-capacity circular vibratory screener or a circular vibratory separator that works with challenging materials, Kason’s Vibroscreen has you covered. Circular vibrating screeners and separators are available in many sizes and configurations, capable of processing varying capacities and carrying out either batch or continuous operations. Precision circular vibratory screeners work hard to ensure that products are free from unwanted by-products and contaminants that can affect overall quality. www.kason.com

Keeping it cool

Lyco’s Mini Flex Chill-flow cooler cuts traditional cooling times in half. Leveraging submerged water agitated cooling makes the product more energy efficient than air cooling, water deluge belt, or belt freezer designs. Food safety is also improved as pouched product passes through the bacterial danger zone of 130 °F (54.4 °C) to 80 °F (26.7 °C) twice as fast as conventional belt coolers or static water tank designs. https://lycomfg.com/

Top treatment

Alfa Laval’s PureBallast 3.1 offers unmatched biological disinfection performance in any type of water: fresh, brackish, or marine. This includes water in liquid form at frigid temperatures. Even in low-clarity waters with UV transmittance as low as 42%, the system can perform at full flow. As a result, it runs at just 50% of its potential operating power in most situations, ramping up to full power only when needed. www.alfalaval.ca

Get chopping

The Talsa k50nb-neo Bowl Chopper contains a stainless steel bowl made of robust cast, with a liquid drain plug. Powerful motors process the most compact and even solid frozen meat. And high energy-efficiency class IE3 globally with high performance ABB motors ensure high cutting speed, variable from 1000 to 4000 rpm, with four programmable knife speeds and four bowl speeds programmable from 6 to 18 rpm. talsanet.com

Check the weight

The Ishida DACS-G/GN Series Checkweigher is an advanced piece of equipment that utilizes unique and proprietary digital load cell technology to deliver unbeatable accuracy and speed when inspecting the weight of packaged goods. Offering enhanced sensitivity over conventional models, the Ishida DACS-G/GN checkweigher satisfies a wide variety of product sizes and speeds. www.heatandcontrol.com

Hot chocolate

Food Supplies’ Chocolate Warmer BOM has been designed to take a container of cooked food from a chilled state (below 40.0 °F [4.4 °C]) through the HACCP “danger zone” of 165 °F (73.9 °C) in less than 90 minutes. The temperature will be maintained above 150 F (65.6 °C) when the food product and pan or inset are used with a standard pan or inset cover, the proper water level is maintained in the well, and the food product is stirred regularly. www.foodsupplies.ca

Spread it out

Vancouver Food Machinery’s Industrial Spreadmatic is a double width model that has an output capacity of up to 6000 slices per hour, and is ideally suited to larger production requirements. Maintaining the simplicity of operation featured throughout the range, the Industrial Spreadmatic ensures that valuable production time is not wasted in machinery maintenance. The model is easily linked to sandwich conveyor lines, affording larger producers the cost saving benefits of streamlining production. vancouverfoodmachinery.ca

Roll of the drum

The Lyco Sanitary Continuous Rotary Drum Water Blancher is one of the most advanced, stateof-the-art machines in the world. Including a number of features, the Lyco Rotary Drum increases capacity, reduces process times, eliminates under-cooking and over-cooking, and reduces required maintenance. lycomfg.com

Fluid control

The SMC Proportional Control Valve JSP is made from solid stainless steel and features the ability to control the flow rate of fluid smoothly according to the current. Ideal for a number of different applications, the SMC Proportional Control Valve JSP has become one of the top choices for those looking for efficient, long-lasting valves. www.smcworld.com/en-jp

Mixing it up

The Ross ISG Motionless Mixer is one of the best low-maintenance choices for efficient mixing. Used extensively but often unseen, the ISG Motionless Mixer is an exceptionally efficient and economical inline mixer that contains no moving parts. This motionless characteristic makes for hassle-free mixing with the benefit of long service life. www.mixers.com

A Short history of food modification

By Sean Terry

Food modification, in one form or another, has been a part of human existence for a very long time. It’s enabled us to evolve, and to continue doing so. From modifications to production and cultivation processes to genetic engineering, here are the most significant food modification milestones achieved over the course of the past 150 years or so.

1866

Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, breeds two different types of peas and identifies the basic process of genetics.

1922

The first hybrid corn is produced and sold commercially.

1940

Plant breeders learn to use radiation or chemicals to randomly change an organism’s DNA.

1953

Building on the discoveries of chemist Rosalind Franklin, scientists James Watson and Francis Crick identify the structure of DNA.

1982

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first consumer GMO product developed through genetic engineering: human insulin to treat diabetes.

1986

The U.S. Federal Government establishes the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology. This policy describes how the FDA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) work together to regulate the safety of GMOs.

1992

FDA policy states that foods from GMO plants must meet the same requirements, including the same safety standards, as foods derived from traditionally bred plants.

1994

The first GMO produce created through genetic engineering - a GMO tomato - becomes available for sale after studies evaluated by American federal agencies proved it to be as safe as traditionally bred tomatoes.

1990s

The first wave of GMO produce created through genetic engineering becomes available to consumers, including summer squash, soybeans, cotton, corn, papayas, tomatoes, potatoes, and canola.

2003

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations develop international guidelines and standards to determine the safety of GMO foods.

2005

GMO alfalfa and sugar beets are available for sale in the United States.

2015

FDA approves an application for the first genetic modification in an animal for use as food, a genetically engineered salmon.

2016

U.S. Congress passes a law requiring labeling for some foods produced through genetic engineering and uses the term “bioengineered,” which will start to appear on some foods.

2017

GMO apples are available for sale.

2019

FDA completes consultation on first food from a genome edited plant.

2020

GMO pink pineapple is available to consumers.

2020

Application for GalSafe pig was approved.

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