The federal government is providing close to $100 million to Merit Functional Foods which plans to build a factory in Winnipeg to extract food-grade protein from canola and peas.
The funding is made up of:
- $10 million in a repayable contribution from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s AgriInnovate Program;
- $25 million in debt financing from Farm Credit Canada;
- $55 million in debt financing from Export Development Canada; and
- $9.2 million from the Protein Industries Canada supercluster announced earlier to support a project for the commercialization of a new highly soluble, highly functional pea and canola protein isolates.
Merit Functional Foods will produce a range of pea, canola and blended proteins for different end uses including: meat and egg alternatives, baked goods, nutrition bars, and fortified beverages.
The plant, which will employ about 80 workers, is scheduled to begin production in December.
