$600,000 funding supports new cereal testing facility

Winnipeg, MB – The Canadian International Grain Institute (CIGI) is establishing an advanced pilot cereal testing, training and demonstration centre with over $499,000 in funding through the Canada-Manitoba Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The Manitoba government is also providing $103,700 towards the project.

Through the acquisition of new state-of-the-art equipment, this project will enable CIGI to expand its capabilities for crop and new food product development. The equipment will meet or exceed current domestic and international competitive testing and manufacturing standards and practices.

Planned equipment acquisition includes such items as a near infrared analyzer (for rapid chemical qualifications), lab scale cold and cooking extruders (allowing CIGI to obtain technical information on functional food ingredients, aquaculture, pet foods and the cereal segments of the market), and a c-cell image analysis system (for gauging the internal structure of bread products). Part of the funding will support the acquisition of equipment for an Asian product testing laboratory portion of the project.