CASE STUDY

McCain Foods Scouting Project

McCain Foods, a global food processing leader, partnered with us to identify cutting-edge technologies that align with their operational and strategic objectives.

The project produced a preliminary list of 28 Canadian companies, with five selected for presentations. This initiative led to three in-depth discussions and one successful collaboration, showcasing the value of targeted innovation scouting.

The positive feedback from McCain Foods has led to another scouting project between CFIN and the anchor company. 

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CASE STUDY

AAFC Listening Sessions

In 2022, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) sought to deepen its understanding of the trends, drivers, obstacles, and opportunities facing innovators in Canada’s food sector. Leveraging our diverse and experienced membership, we partnered with AAFC to gather representatives from small to medium-size businesses in a series of group listening sessions.

Through these sessions, we created an opportunity analysis for AAFC, which provided strategies for building awareness and accessibility of AAFC programs to maximize the potential for meaningful and productive collaboration with post-farmgate innovators. 

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CASE STUDY

Understanding Industry Needs: Feedback on Novel Ingredient Regulation

Health Canada partnered with us to better understand how regulatory processes are affecting food innovation in Canada—particularly around the novel food review.

Through a national pulse poll, CFIN gathered input from innovators developing cutting-edge ingredients and products. The results highlighted a clear disconnect: while innovation is accelerating, regulatory pathways remain slow, unclear, and out of step with industry needs.

These insights are now informing CFIN’s ongoing dialogue with Health Canada, helping shape a regulatory environment that better supports safe, timely, and globally competitive food innovation.

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