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Toronto, ON-based New School Foods Inc. uses new production technologies to create authentic whole-cut meat and seafood alternatives for the mass market that deliver on texture, cooking, appearance, price and taste. The company’s first product is a whole fillet of salmon that looks, cooks, tastes and flakes like fish. It transitions from raw to cooked, and replicates salmon muscle fibres and connective tissue to create the same texture and mouthfeel.
New School Foods received $80,526 in funding to create novel equipment that can draw “white lines” in the salmon to help improve the product by creating fillets that flake and closely emulate traditional salmon.
We talked to Jennifer St. Onge, senior manager of Operations at New School Foods, to find out more about the project and the company’s plans.
Q: What is your company’s mission?
A: New School Foods’ mission is to accelerate the transition to a kinder, more sustainable food system by creating no-compromise meat alternatives.
Q: Why did you apply for this funding and how will you use it?
A: We are currently developing a brand new way to create the connective tissue that contributes to the texture and flavour of whole-cut meats. In order to scale this technology, we needed to work with a partner to develop custom equipment. This funding will help support this project and allow us to solve these challenges and get to market faster.
Q: What excites you most about working in this area of the food industry?
A: There are many plant-based options available already, but most are ground products like nuggets and patties. Delivering a whole-cut product for the market could have a significant impact, especially as more and more consumers look to find healthier and more climate-friendly food choices. Our focus on research and development paved the way for us to develop our own technology. Long-term, our technologies could help other companies improve their products, so we can attract more people to alternative meats and, in turn, ensure the greatest environmental impact possible.
Q: Why is collaboration so important for accelerating innovation in the food industry? Is it difficult to find good collaborating partners, and what would make the process easier?
A: The industry has been using the same limited toolkit to make alternative proteins for years, and now is the time to start thinking outside the box if we want to create better products and new formats. Collaboration was critical in our early development. We sponsored multiple research projects at different universities and leveraged their in-house expertise and equipment to accelerate our mission to find a better technology for making whole-cut meat alternatives. We continue to collaborate with researchers, colleges, ingredient providers, and experts in food processing and engineering to solve our technical challenges quickly and efficiently. Being able to reduce the administrative burden of working with public institutions would make it easier to collaborate at the pace we need to move at and create more opportunities for innovation.
Q: Please comment on the importance of public funding to help companies clear innovation hurdles and access leveraged funds.
A: One of the best things about having our company in Canada is the public support for this industry. The funding that we received early on helped us invest the time and energy to really understand the science behind the texture and flavour of salmon and develop the tools to recreate it. Those early results made a huge difference in attracting foreign investment so we could focus on getting our first product to market. We are grateful to have received additional support from CFIN and other agencies this year to continue improving our product and develop new technologies for this industry.
Q: Looking ahead, what’s on the horizon for your company?
A: We are starting out by working closely with top North American chefs to perfect the flavour and texture of our plant-based salmon fillet before venturing into grocery stores. Early next year, we will unveil our salmon alternative in several high-end restaurants, as a way to drum up excitement among a broad range of consumers. With our first pilot facility now under construction we will be able start producing at scale by next year.
Q: What are your passions or hobbies outside of work?
A: Music, both as a listener, and a writer. There’s nothing more exciting than watching an idea come to life in front of you. I also enjoy skiing, and playing tennis.
Q: If you had to pick one person to make you a meal, who would you choose?