Plant Veda Foods Ltd., Avena Foods Ltd., HPP Canada and Thirstea Beverages Ltd., with a co-investment from Protein Industries Canada, will develop and commercialize cost-effective oat concentrates. These new oat concentrates will then be used to make new plant-based food and beverage products.
Plant Veda and Avena Foods will work together to transform Avena's specialty milled oat flours into oat concentrates, which will be supplied to Thirstea Beverages and other manufacturers. Plant Veda and HPP Canada will focus on extending the shelf life of the concentrates by using high pressures, without the use of preservatives or chemicals. The final concentrates can be used by food manufacturers looking to produce oat-based food and beverage products – strengthening Canada's integrated oat value chain and enabling companies to source Canadian grown and processed oat ingredients. Plant Veda will apply these new oat concentrates to expand their product line with plant-based beverages, yogurts and frozen desserts. Thirstea Beverages will develop and commercialize new plant-based teas and beverages, swapping their dairy base with oat concentrates for Canadian and international markets. This project is valued at $989,000, with Protein Industries Canada committing half and the consortium contributing the remaining half. The consortium of Canadian SMEs is collaborating to accelerate innovation and compete in the global plant-based market. Over the past three years, Protein Industries Canada and industry partners have invested more than $485 million into growing Canada's plant-based food, feed and ingredient sector. The results of these investments include improved farming practices, increased sustainability, increased traceability, and the production of new ingredients and food products. Cumulatively, this will increase the choices available to Canadians on grocery store shelves, create jobs and improve the health of environment. Protein Industries Canada's goal is to grow Canada's plant-based food sector to $25 billion a year by 2035 and create 17,000 jobs.