[CHARLOTTETOWN, PE] — The province’s food technology centre has a new name to go along with some of the new services it offers.
Jim Smith is the executive director of what is now called Bio Food Tech and said the rebranding was important because the centre has started doing additional work to develop bioprocessing.
“The new name really reflects the additional expertise and equipment and capability that we now have to deliver to the bioscience and bioprocessing industry,” he said.
The P.E.I. Food Technology Centre was built in 1987 to support the province’s food processing industry.
Bio Food Tech will offer practical applied science to support food and bioprocessing companies as they move from the concept stage through to market.
Under its new brand, Bio Food Tech will have three business divisions.
The food technology division will deal with practical food science and technology, while the bioscience technology division will deal with fermentation, extraction, isolation and purification services.
Products developed in the bioscience technology division can be used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, food products and animal health.
The lab services division will provide microbial analysis to support food safety systems along with nutrition label services and food safety training workshops.
Smith said the centre will keep the food technology side of what it does, but the name shows it is ready to take on more clients in the bioscience sector.
“It kind of reflects what we’ve been doing for the last number of years anyway,” he said.
No one would have known the centre had expanded its focus if it hadn’t changed its name, he said.
“It’s a more punchy name.”
Smith said the centre has also invested about $500,000 over the last few years in renovations, including a food safety lab.
Bio Food Tech gets a grant from the province, but funds most of its operations through money it gets from selling its services to businesses.
