Features Fruit Production
Ontario government supporting Niagara food processing facility

March 2, 2009, St. Davids, Ont. – Ontario is helping the Niagara Region
establish an innovative food processing facility that will use locally
grown fruit to make all natural fruit snacks.

March 2, 2009, St. Davids, Ont. – Ontario is helping the Niagara Region establish an innovative food processing facility that will use locally grown fruit to make all natural fruit snacks.

The province is providing Niagara Natural Fruit Snacks Inc. with $884,570 to use a breakthrough technology that will produce healthy and nutritious all-natural products that are comparable in taste with artificially flavoured, sugar-based snacks. The project will help create nine full-time positions and potential sales of $2 million in the first year of operation and will create a market for process-grade locally grown fruit.

“This project will help create local jobs and allow us to utilize breakthrough technology to produce innovative fruit products that are safe, healthy and nutritious,” said Niagara Natural Fruit Snacks Inc. president John Boot.

The funding is part of the Rural Economic Development Program, which invests in community-based projects in three priority areas:

• Improved access to health care services
• Revitalized communities and downtowns
• Enhanced skills training.

“By supporting a new business and employer in the previously vacant CanGro plant, we are ensuring the region's agricultural industry continues to be sustainable, profitable and continues to grow into the future,” said Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor. “This venture will help develop a stable secondary market for locally grown fruit.”

“I am pleased to see the former Cangro plant is once again producing locally grown and processed fruit,” said St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley. “This innovative technology used by Niagara Natural Fruit Snacks will create a new value-added product from our local fruit, while providing new opportunities for our local growers.”