“During its 40-year history, the Alberta Food Centre (AFC) has helped start-ups to well-known food companies bring ideas to market,” says Ken Gossen, executive director of the AFC.
One of these companies is the Sunterra Group. This relationship began more than 20 years ago when President Ray Price toured the AFC and saw a fantastic opportunity for Sunterra Meats and Sunterra Farms to get assistance trialing new products and expanding operations.
“One of the first projects was figuring out how to vacuum-pack bison steaks with food scientist Arie Vandermeer,” says Price. “From the beginning, we forged a strong relationship with the AFC that has led to more projects almost every year. Their experts have consulted with us on everything from industry regulations to product formulations and to new processes and equipment.”
When Sunterra began working with the AFC, it was already an established food business, establishing Sunterra Farms in 1970 and Sunterra Markets in 1990. Since collaborating with the AFC, Sunterra has grown to include Soleterra d’Italia in 2016 and Sunterra Greenhouse in 2020.
When Soleterra d’Italia began, it offered 8 cured meat products. With access to processing equipment and expert advice from food scientists and technicians at the AFC, Soleterra went from producing just one batch of cured meat products per week to multiple batches every day. More products were added with expert guidance from the AFC’s food scientists, who designed formulations to prevent spoilage and make sure every item maintained consistent quality. Now Soleterra produces over one hundred products.
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