North Pacific Kelp Wild Foods Inc. (NorPak) is applying freeze drying technologies to their food processing to add value to their seafood and agri-food products by creating new products with an almost unlimited shelf life, thanks in part to a $20,435 Northern Industries Innovation Fund grant.
By adding freeze drying technologies to its operations, the company will create value-added foods by expanding their current product offerings from single product packages, to ready-to-eat full vegan meals using local food products.
The company has also integrated NutraSoft software to improve product management of their manufactured freeze-dried foods. NutraSoft is enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for small food and beverage manufacturing businesses who are looking to grow their operations, increase margins, analyze and improve their production process, create their own nutrition facts tables, reduce product waste and improve food safety.
The project will provide an opportunity for the company to diversify their product line and enter new plant-based vegan food markets in both Canada and internationally.
Adoption of the technologies is expected to significantly improve productivity and in-house resources and will provide an opportunity to shift NorPak to a full-time working environment, creating new employment and increasing revenue for the business, while stimulating the local economy.
“The Value-Added Seafood Products Freeze Dry Technology project funded by NIIF was very helpful to our firm,” said Dafne Romero, CEO of NorPak. “It helped diversify our seafood products to increase visibility in the market and become more economically resilient as well as the possibilities to find new markets.”
NorPak is located on Haida Gwaii where they “respect, watch, and harvest from the Kelp Forest in the Hecate Strait.”
The Northern Industries Innovation Fund (NIIF) program provides incremental funding to support innovation projects that increase the competitiveness of local businesses in traditional industries across Northern B.C. The program is also intended to support economic diversification and/or viability of businesses to mitigate the economic impact of the pine beetle epidemic. NIIF supports applied research and development, new or improved products and services, and testing of innovative equipment or technologies to support capital investment decisions.
