Saint-Hyacinthe Research and Development Centre

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

3600 Casavant Boulevard West
Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
J2S 8E3

Telephone: 450-768-7999

Email: aafc.saint-hyacintherdc-crdsaint-hyacinthe.aac@canada.ca

Longitude: 45.627843
Latitude: −72.984682

The Centre focuses on conducting research and developing methods to preserve food and maintain its quality, and to process food safely and efficiently. Research is also conducted on food ingredients having health and other benefits beyond basic nutritional values.

Food safety is also a major area of research, and in doing this work, the Centre collaborates with the University of Montreal's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Through the Centre's Industrial Program, pilot plants are leased to agri-food companies in support of their small-scale food processing and testing needs. In addition, the Centre also provides extensive information retrieval and analysis services (in French only) through Initia Foundation (formerly known as the Governors' Foundation).

Facilities at the Saint-Hyacinthe Research and Development Centre

• 8,030 square metre building
• Industrial Program
• 3,200 square metres of pilot plants for food processing
• 94-seat multimedia auditorium
• Crossroads for Food Innovation Technology facility comprising four laboratories, four pilot plants and associated offices

Current research activities

Research and innovation for safe food

• Developing new processing techniques and new products
• Developing and highlighting processed functional products that improve the health of consumers
• Mastering the risks associated with pathogens in food processing
• Conducting research to identify, characterize and control food allergens, ensure operational traceability and the safety of fresh products

From farm to fork - Supporting the agri-food industry

• Designing projects to improve the energy efficiency of food production processes, and that preserve and improve the quality of food
• Conducting research on foods for taste, smell and texture as well as their health properties
• Studying the expectations of consumers regarding food quality and convenience, including storage
• Other areas of study: bioactive molecules, dairy ingredients, biopolymers, spectral analysis and the structure-property relationship of biomolecules

Results of our research

• Attracted more than 1,200 companies that benefited from the industrial program and carried out more than 2,000 projects
• Established the first official methods for detecting pathogenic human viruses in foods
• Built and tested a prototype mechanical human digestive system (IViDiS, also known as an artificial stomach) to examine the survival of probiotics, including within the intestines. This method also helps researchers to learn what happens to bioactive compounds and allergens in different foods
• Discovered and characterized probiotic bacteria in yogurt and the microbiota in kefir
• Developed techniques for encapsulating probiotic bacteria to protect them from stomach acid
• Built an optical device that uses light to check the quality and purity of maple syrup in collaboration with the maple syrup industry
• Developed a standardized system (flavour wheel) to qualify maple syrup flavours in collaboration with the maple syrup industry
• Developed a method for ensuring better stability of unfiltered fruit juices in collaboration with a private firm
• Nine firms have used industrial program incubators and two of them have launched successful commercial operations
• Developed a new vegetable fermentation technology for long-term preservation. This has led to the establishment and growth of a Canadian company and provided access to export markets
• Developed a low-fat cheese manufacturing process without altering organoleptic properties, in direct collaboration with the dairy sector
• Support for the goat milk and goat cheese industry to develop this sector
• Developed an enhanced commercial process for manufacturing edible poultry fat The process has been transferred to industry and is used commercially
• Developed new ultrafiltration methods to isolate, from yellow pea flours, 90% pure proteins with low levels of phytic acid, an anti-nutritional chemical
• Developed a method for extracting residual collagen in meat processing to enhance artificial skin used in the treatment of burns victims