Municipalities, universities, schools, health agencies, and hospitals engaged to improve Torontonians' diets

George Brown College today announced the launch of a new initiative to engage municipalities, universities, schools, health agencies and hospitals in helping to improve the diet, physical health and wellness of people in the GTA. An important benefit of the project is the involvement of students and faculty to solve practical problems through applied research.

The Helderleigh Nutrition Application Fund will make a total of $400,000 available over a four-year period for nutrition and health-related applied research projects conducted in partnership with the college's Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts and its food innovation and research studio, FIRSt.

Fund recipients will be able to access state-of-the-art facilities to create and test healthy and tasty recipes, provide theoretical nutritional analysis, conduct consumer sensory evaluations, develop products, carry out shelf life testing, engage in product scaling and commercialization, and provide custom training. College faculty and students will be involved in the projects throughout their development.

"The Helderleigh Nutrition Application Fund will create new partnerships that will improve people's nutrition and healthy eating, drive product innovation and offer our students and faculty practical experience in applied research," said Robert Luke, Vice President Research and Innovation at George Brown College. "As a leader in food and beverage research, innovation, and education for industry, we are excited to be undertaking this new initiative in partnership with The Helderleigh Foundation."

Project applications will be accepted each summer, fall and winter following a call for proposals, the first of which will take place in the spring of 2016. Applications will be evaluated by a task force comprised of research and culinary experts from George Brown College and The Helderleigh Foundation, which created the $400,000 fund.

As a condition of the funding, grantees will be required to share publicly whatever they develop so others can benefit, too. It is expected that between four and 10 grants of $10,000 to $20,000 will be awarded on an annual basis, with larger projects considered on an exception basis.

"Through this fund, we will be providing organizations and students with a new and innovative opportunity to solve real-world nutrition challenges," said Lorraine Trotter, Dean, Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts. "We're looking forward to welcoming project teams to our facility – the talent we have in the culinary arts, in nutrition and the college's research capabilities bode well for great innovation for the food and beverage sector." 

George Brown College-led research plays an important role in promoting Canadian innovation. Research Infosource, a leading source of R&D intelligence in Canada, recently recognized George Brown as the top research college in the country. 

Organizations interested in applying for funding can learn more about the application process at www.gbcfirst.ca. The first application deadline will be in the summer of 2016.

About George Brown's Food Innovation & Research Studio
The Food Innovation & Research Studio (FIRSt) offers industry access to technical resources, state of the art facilities and networking opportunities for  the not for profit sector and small to medium-sized businesses within the GTA food and beverage industry, enabling these organizations to solve dietary challenges and reach more customers.  www.gbcfirst.ca

SOURCE George Brown College