McCormick & Company has unveiled its annual Flavour Forecast, revealing the tantalizing trends that will shape culinary exploration and innovation around the globe. Among the emerging trends is a spotlight on underexplored Southeast Asian fare – Malaysian and Filipino – and the evolution of our insatiable appetite for spicy. Also featured are pulses which serve as a protein-packed canvas for …

After more than 30 years in development, Canada finally has its own indigenous pear variety. Bred in Ontario by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Cold Snap pear was prominently displayed at the The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair’s opening ceremony in November. “We call Cold Snap pears ‘Winter’s Favourite Fruit,’” says Matthew Ecker, Sales and Business Development Manager for the Vineland …

Canada’s beverage manufacturers and Canadian Beverage Association (CBA) launched the Balance Calories initiative in October. The program is aimed at reducing the number of calories Canadians consume from non-alcoholic beverages by 20 per cent over the next decade through product innovation and marketing. This commitment includes all non-alcoholic refreshment beverages excluding milk and other dairy products, hot coffees and teas. …

Centre for Food provides students with first-hand experience Text by Doug Wintemute Surrounded by an orchard, greenhouses and vegetable fields, the Centre for Food (CFF) at Durham College in Oshawa, ON, is doing its part to redefine school field trips. By following the guiding concept of field-to-fork, the centre encourages its students to engage in the various sectors that converge …

The P.E.I. Scalloped Potatoes flavour has been selected as the 2015 winner in the Lay’s Do Us a Flavour contest. Winner Jordan Cairns was inspired by Atlantic Canada’s reputation for potato cultivation as well as a fond memory of Friday night family dinners to create his P.E.I. Scalloped Potatoes flavour. Jordan will receive $50,000 plus one per cent of his …

James D. House1,2,3,4 | Matthew Nosworthy1 Consumers continue to demand products that feature protein claims on front of the package, with protein featured as one of the top 10 key trends in food, nutrition and health for 2015.1 Factors driving increased interest in protein include perceptions by consumers of the linkage between protein consumption and increased satiety (feeling of fullness), …

Sylvie L. Turgeon* | Laurie-Eve Rioux The older reader will probably remember the popular “I am Joe” article series from the Reader’s Digest dedicated to overviewing the human body’s function. One article was specifically dedicated to human stomach function (I am Joe’s stomach). More recently, the “dummies” series has devoted articles to the digestive system with topics highlighting food digestion. …

Germination is an effective processing method for improving nutritional quality, reducing anti-nutritive compounds, boosting the level and digestibility of free amino acids and available carbohydrates, increasing mineral bio-availability, and improving the functional properties of cereal and pulses.

Welcome to the fourth and final edition of the Regulatory Arena devoted to the Clean Label. It has been a lot of fun so far: we have defined the “clean label”, considered its treatment in Canada compared to the United States, and dug into some hot topics in clean labelling. In this Regulatory Arena, we move off of compliance and …

Garlic Aficionado Publishes Book on its History Text by Sorush Khalesi Garlic enthusiast Peter McClusky is the founder of the Toronto Garlic Festival, as well as a consultant for the Greenbelt Foundation. Most importantly, he is also a garlic farmer. Garlic and its history have greatly impacted McClusky’s life, and inspired him to author Ontario Garlic: The Story from Farm …