Direct Access Fund

The Direct Access Fund allows eligible companies to seek expert advice directly from a recognized food science institution for up to 7.5 hours or $1 500 of free consultation on a specific project.

In the case where a company needs more technical advice than 7.5 hours, the CDC may choose to share the costs associated with the additional consultation(s) up to a maximum contribution of $1 500.

Eligibility Criteria

• Dairy Product Manufacturers
• Food Processors

Eligible Activities

To qualify for access to expert technical advice, a company must show to a recognized institution that it can meet at least one of the following criteria:

• incorporate a dairy ingredient in a finished product formulation where no dairy ingredient(s) had been previously used;
• replace a substitute ingredient in a product formulation with a dairy ingredient, or significantly increase the dairy content in an existing product formulation;
• develop and market an innovative dairy product;
• develop and market an innovative further processed product containing dairy ingredients.

Examples

Eligible

• replacing the use of whey powder in a food formulation with skim milk powder or whole milk powder;
• designing/creating a specialty cheese or milk based beverage not yet available/manufactured in Canada.

Ineligible

• incorporating animal/vegetable based substitutes in the place of cream or butterfat;
• incorporating whey protein concentrate in a food bar in the place of skim/whole milk.

Summary

The Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) supports an environment that fosters growth and innovation in the manufacture and use of Canadian dairy products and components. An environment in which dairy product manufacturers and food processors are provided easy access to expert advice from recognized food science institutions.

In pursuit of these objectives, the CDC assists companies in the various costs associated with:

• adapting new and existing technologies; and
• getting innovative products to the marketplace.

The Direct Access Fund focuses primarily on small and medium enterprises who typically lack the resources and expertise to resolve dairy product innovation and/or product re-formulation issues. However, the Fund is available to all dairy processors and further processors using dairy ingredients.

Please visit the MILKingredients.ca Web site for more information and to download the Information Guide.

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Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon Contact(s):
See National Contact.