Business opportunity: Conservation and Fermentation Technologies for Value-Added Vegetables Allowing Conventional or Organic Commercialization

Area

Keywords

Why?

• Vegetable productions are seasonal and the market depends on the availability.
• The shelf life of the vegetable products is limited to a maximum of 14 days.
• Organic food sector is increasing the part of the market based on the consumer demand.
• The functional food sector is showing an exponential growth.
• This opportunity is based on a set of unique worldwide technologies. Moreover, a few of them are patented and already used in industries under licences.

Opportunity

Technologies specification

• Lactic fermentation allows the transformation of vegetables by lactic acid bacteria naturally occurring at the surface of vegetables. However, this transformation called spontaneous fermentation happens like an uncontrolled process, which depends on the vegetable itself and its microbiota.
• Those innovative technologies use specific lactic starters designed by scientist and controlled fermentation processes.
• Technologies and starters are easily transferable to vegetables producers as well as food processors.
• The processes allow a shelf life exceeding a year without using thermal treatments, which destroy vitamins, proteins, bioactive compounds, etc.
• Those technologies allow also the survival of lactic acid bacteria (probiotic bacteria) in processed vegetables and therefore, constitute a mean of absorbing probiotics as in yogurt and pills.
• Lactic acid bacteria are recognized to provide positive physiological effects on human (reduction of symptoms in lacto-intolerant people to favour intestinal transit and to reduce the occurrence and length of diarrhea, etc.)
• Those technologies answer to the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) requirements, organic certification offices as well to the definition of a “functional food” from Health Canada. They also answer to the American USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) requirements and lactic acid bacteria have a G.R.A.S. label (generally recognized as safe).
• Those technologies are adaptable to all production scales from residential to industrial.
• Those technologies could also been used for animal nutrition (Silage).

The Target

The partners sought are vegetables producers or Agri-Food processors who want to evolve in organic, functional or value-added food products. Therefore it is for the “niche” market where profit margins (retail prices) are between 4 and 6 times higher than conventional vegetables in terms of value-added. In 2010, in the USA, the price of unpasteurized organic sauerkraut (produced with this technology) was 6 times higher than the pasteurized conventional one.

When?

Seasonal harvesting period is operated from July to October and the quality of fermented vegetables relies to their freshness. However, it is possible to partially dry the crops and to post-pone their fermentation for longer term. When the fermentation is applied, the process takes approximately 2 months. The final product can be stored at 4o C until the following year seasonal production allowing an ongoing annual commercialization.

Where?

Acton region, located at less than an hour from Montréal, Trois-Rivières and Sherbrooke markets offers a high concentration of vegetable producers and diverse industries. This region focuses its economical development mainly on Agri-Food sector as well as on the polymers and metal transformation.

For more information about this business opportunity, contact Mathieu Vigneault by email or by phone at 1 450 546-3203.