Niagara College Receives Grant to Develop Craft Brewer Quality Program

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ON – Niagara College has announced that it has received a grant from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to develop a program to improve quality assurance and control measures at craft breweries across the country.

The Applied Research and Technology Partnership (ARTP) grant of $1,789,330 million over two years will be used to pilot a Craft Brewer Quality program, led by Niagara College’s Canadian Food & Wine Institute (CFWI) Innovation Centre, and also involving Durham College (Ontario), Collège Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (New Brunswick), and Olds College (Alberta).

“We are absolutely thrilled for the support from NSERC. It really shows that the federal government is committed to supporting the craft beer industry in its ongoing growth and development,” said Lyndon Ashton of the CFWI Innovation Centre in a statement. “Since the 1980s, the craft brewing industry has grown to 24% of all beer made in Canada. Of key importance now for the growing industry is developing a systematic way to increase quality assurance and consistency in the products sold to the public.”

The project is further described as follows:

The funds will be used to collaboratively develop a framework of industry standards and guidelines with college and industry experts. They will be operationalized into customized written quality programs and the concepts will be proven in partnership with 16 breweries across New Brunswick, Ontario, and Alberta. Analytical testing at key points during the project will gauge the effectiveness of the standards.

At every step, students will be trained alongside industry partners, exemplifying work-integrated learning and capacity building for the businesses. Ultimately, the intellectual property will be assigned to industry association partners for potential adoption upon project completion.

This investment is one of three ARTP funding grants that Niagara College received from NSERC. The other two will support the cannabis and advanced manufacturing sectors, with the three having a combined amount of $4.43-million.

Source & Photo: Niagara College

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