CSHS members received the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Award  - 2005

Drs. Vasantha Rupasinghe (Nova Scotia Agricultural College), Jennifer DeEll (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food) and Peter Toivonen (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) were the part of a team who received the Agri-Food Innovation Award at the inaugural Agri-Food Innovation Forum, which took place in Hilton hotel in Toronto during June 19-22. The Agri-Food  Innovation Awards Program is a coordinated effort of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) and Ontario Agri-Food Technologies. The 2005 awards focus on Agriculture, Food and Human Health. The Innovation Award was one of the three categories of awards, which recognizes an individual, team, organization or business whose leadership, new technology, value-added product or service has improved, or holds the potential to improve, the health of the citizens of Ontario, while at the same time generating profits for the agri-food sector.

The award certificate that the team received by the Ministers of Agriculture and Food, and Health and Long Term Care at the award ceremony quotes “ This award recognizes your work, as part of the fresh cut apple slices team, to introduce pre-packed apple slices to the marketplace. This new and innovative product is the first of its kind and has opened up an important new market for Ontario apples.”  The pre-packed apple slices, which have recently been introduced to the market place by McDonalds’s Food Chain, are the result of a large, successful collaborative project that was co-coordinated by Dr. Rupasinghe when he was with University of Guelph prior to the present carreer of  Tree Fruit Bio-product Research Chair at NSAC.