Pea Butter takes top awards

Hats off to a small Alberta company who has made the big time—as in the Academy of Awards of new food products. Alberta’s Joe and Pauline St. Denis knew they were onto something tasty when they launched NoNuts Golden Pea Butter in 2002. A host of Canadian food judges at the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors Grand Prix Awards agreed, and today the couple has a shelf packed full of trophies.

Touted as a nutritional and flavour boost to nut and peanut-free diets, NoNuts Golden Pea Butter won the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD) Western Grand Prix New Product Award in January 2003. Five months later, it earned top honours in the condiment and sauces category of the CCGD’s National Grand Prix at Ottawa, before being named this year’s All-Canadian winner.

What’s the significance of a Grand Prix? According to George Deegan, regional judge, and retired retail food executive, it’s like winning the Oscar for Best Actor of the Year. “Companies that earn a Grand Prix designation are automatically acknowledged by the top retail buyers as having a product that’s going to be a consumer winner,” he says. “That translates into major sales increases and new listings”. (Listings are agreements between food companies and retailers for shelf space in the grocery store. Listings are very competitive and only products that sell keep their listings for any period of time.)

“NoNuts” was up against major brand names for the Grand Prix All-Canadian category,” says Deegan. “To win against the big guys, you have to have a product that’s truly innovative and consumer appealing.”

Nut- and peanut-free, low in saturated fats and salt, gluten-free and featuring Omega-3 oil, NoNuts Golden Pea Butter is manufactured by Mountain Meadows Food Processing at Legal, Alberta, where the St. Denis family has grown a wide variety of field peas for 20 years. Produced in a peanut- and nut-free environment, the spreadable “peanut butterlike” product was developed by Joe St. Denis, with help from the Alberta Government’s Food Processing Development Centre at Leduc.

New germ-fighter to the rescue

It won’t be long before food can be treated with a new made-in-Alberta antibody cocktail that targets some of the most common (and nastiest!) food-borne germs. Developed at the University of Alberta, the product nicknamed ‘Spice of Life’ won’t change the way food tastes nor will it kill germs. What it will do is prevent those food-borne germs from infecting your body. For anyone who’s suffered a bout of food poisoning, this is an invention worth watching. Germs like E.coli, Listeria, Campylobacter and Salmonella can wreak havoc on the body—they’ve even been known to cause death. After two years of research, seven papers and two patents, the product is ready for field testing. Once it is market ready, it will be used in meat, produce and perishable foods like barbecue sauce, mayonnaise and salad dressings during processing and packaging. Eventually, there will be a granular form that consumers can use at home. “We think Spice of Life will really help to manage the nasty impact of food-borne illness,” says Hoon Sunwoo, Ph.D., lead researcher and food chemist at the University of Alberta. “But, prevention is really the key to food safety. Most food-borne germs can be eliminated by simply using food-safe preparation and storage methods at home.”

Forfood safe handling tips, check out the food safely info-line at: Web site: foodsafetyline.org