Adding value in Saskatchewan

From CAPI Update, Autumn 2011

Saskatoon's InfraReady Products illustrates how critical innovation and collaboration are to competitiveness. InfraReady was launched in 1994 as an attempt to add value to cereal grains before they left the province. Focusing on consumer demand for healthier food products, the company rapidly expanded. Today, it markets over 200 products. The company uses cereals, legumes (lentils, peas, beans), and oilseed-based ingredients in such products as baked goods, soups, baby foods, and beverages. Applying quick-cooking technology to lentils, beans, and peas helps to retain nutrition-quality and improve starch and protein digestibility.

InfraReady's partners include POS Bio-Sciences and the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre, which are both in Saskatoon. These partners provide technical assistance in commercializing the company's innovative ideas.

For nutritional research, InfraReady partners with Winnipeg's Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, and for product development work the company partners with Cigi. Mark Pickard, InfraReady's founder, said that: "A key part of our success in delivering more nutritious foods to the marketplace and creating new opportunities for growers and ourselves has been due to collaborating with these partners."