Pilot Food Facility at Conestoga College

Well - I wanted this blog to be about the Canadian Food Industry and to this end I toured an educational facility that is specifically focused on food processing.   The institute is called the Craig Richardson Institute of Food Processing Technology and it's chair is Luis Garcia.  This Institute is in Cambridge Ontario and is part of Conestoga college (a Polytechnic school which is the fastest growing college in Ontario with 60,000 students in total).

The facility is new as of September 2011 and is subsidized by the Canadian Government.  The need for the facility is based on the current lack of skilled labour in the Canadian the industry.  The Canadian food processing industry is number 1 in terms of labour force size and second in terms of revenue (second only to the auto industry).  Together these two pieces of information tell a story of future issues for companies getting enough skilled labour.  The institute wishes to address this labour gap by training students to be "skilled" operators and to also address the issue of poorly prepared supervisors (labourers lacking knowledge that become supervisors lacking knowledge). 

The program includes cleaning and sanitation, food safety, Microbiology, Chemistry, Mechanical and Electrical (specifically on issues that can arise in production).  Students can attend full time, part-time, or as an apprentice program.  The training facility includes three fully functional production lines and a Micro / chem laboratory.
Wow - a lot of hands on knowledge and experience can be gained at this facility.  They can even include tailored training for corporations that wish to better their employees.

The first line shown to us was for baked goods - from batching the raw dough to forming, tempering and baking.  The machines, as with all the machines in the facility, are standard equipment found in Canadian companies and are a combination of new technology with the ability to go manual (simulate older methods of processing).  The picture to the right shows a bread kneading and forming unit.





 
 The picture on the left shows the baking oven where students can learn how to operate the oven, and what can go wrong.  This teaching style is done for each line, step, process, and piece of equipment that the facility operates.

 The left picture shows a cooling tower for baked goods and a packaging line.

 

 The second line shown during the tour consisted of a beverage packaging setup that included batching, sterilization, filling, packaging, and cartoning. 

 The picture (right) is of the sanitation equipment for "Clean In Place" procedures.  Each line in the plant needs to be sanitized and this is all up to the students to perform;  including the testing for validation of cleanliness.  As part of the training, GMP is considered, taught and maintained in the facility.  Hand washing, hairnets, shoe baths, etc.

This facility is well organized and a place that I hope Canadian companies support and learn from.  I would love to get my hands dirty on these lines and increase my own knowledge.