Food, Agriculture and Bioindustrial Products
Overview
Alberta has a rich natural resource base and a long history in plant and animal agriculture. Alberta’s traditional agricultural strengths include Canada’s largest cattle industry and grain and oilseed production. Recently, new emphasis has been placed on developing additional value-added products from crops and livestock, such as nutraceuticals, organic cosmetics, and fibre. Alberta is also making substantial investments in bioindustrial products from renewable sources, including non-crop plants, agricultural and forestry waste, to biofuels, biolubricants, and biochemcials. Activities in research and product development are revitalizing the agriculture industry, as well as building a new bioindustrial sector in the province.
Prominent Agricultural and Bioindustrial Research Facilities in Alberta
Agri-Food Discovery Place
Agri-Food Discovery Place is a $24 million, pilot-scale research facility of over 5,000 square metres, located at the University of Alberta south campus. This facility is Canada’s only pre-pilot plant with level II biocontainment and solvent processing capabilities. It is home to the Crop Utilization & Enhanced Materials, and Meat Safety and Processing Research Centres (MSPRC).
- Meat Safety and Processing Research Centre (MSPRC)
MSPRC is designed for processing of meat products with foodborne pathogens and will provide researchers and industry partners with a state of the art facility for food safety research. - Crop Utilization & Enhanced Materials (CUEMRC)
CUEMRC will allow pre-pilot scale processing of agri-food and agri-industrial products and development of novel technologies. Utilization of crop components will be maximized through separation and conversion processes as well as applications development targeting functional foods and industrial bioproducts.
Alberta Lipid Utilization Program (ALUP)
ALUP is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional research program, funded by a consortia of industry, and provincial and federal governmental organizations. ALUP’s research programs are uniquely structured to take commercial advantage of cutting-edge, fundamental research in lipid utilization. Starting with lipids from oilseeds and their refining waste streams, ALUP studies the relationships between processing conditions, derived structural hierarchies and resultant physical functionality of value-added networks and chemicals leading to the production of value-added products.
Alberta Prion Research Institute (APRI)
The Alberta Prion Research Institute is a $35 million initiative, announced by the Alberta government in February 2005, to support top researchers working on solutions to the serious scientific and socioeconomic challenges associated with prions, the proteins thought to cause diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Alberta Biomaterials Development Centre
The Alberta Biomaterials Development Centre is a $15-million investment by partners Advanced Education and Technology through the Alberta Life Sciences Institute, Agriculture and Rural Development, Sustainable Resource Development and the Alberta Research Council. Located at the Alberta Research Council’s Vegreville facility and the University of Alberta’s Agriculture Discovery Place in Edmonton, the Alberta Biomaterials Development Centre links research, technology and business to bring new products derived from agriculture and forestry-based fibres to the market faster. It will offer access to expertise, test facilities, scale-up equipment, validation prototyping, and customer-demonstration support.
Food Processing Development Centre
The Food Processing Development Centre is a modern, fully equipped pilot plant and product development laboratory facility. It is staffed with experienced food scientists, engineers and technologists. Centre services are designed to strengthen and expand the capability of Alberta's food processors to meet the challenges of the marketplace through application of new technology and the development of new or improved products and processes.
Poultry Research Centre
The Poultry Research Centre is striving for excellence in research and learning in parternship with the poultry industry, Alberta Government, the University of Alberta, and funding agencies. The centre is committed to development of value-added poultry products, technologies, and sustainable production practices.
