ABOUT FIRSt
FIRSt supports the food and beverage industry with scientific R&D services from our lab located at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario. We provide our clients with creative, practical, and science-based insights to solve product development challenges and help them bring new ideas to market
Contact FIRSt
Dan Reilly
Director, FIRSt
Andrea Orazi
Business Development Manager, FIRSt
N/A
215 King St. East, Fourth Floor, Toronto, ON M5A 1J9
Services offered in: English
Request Interactive Visit: http://interactivevisits.ca
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RESEARCH AND INNOVATION EXPERTISE
EXPERTISE
- Product development
- Product optimization
- Recipe development
- Consumer sensory research
- Focus groups
- In-plant trials and pilot testing
- Shelf-life testing and validation
- Nutritional analysis and Nutrition Facts Tables (NFTs)
- Claims, regulatory, and packaging review
- Food science consulting
Previous Research Projects:
Fields of projects:
- Spreads and dips
- Soups
- Sauces
- Snacks (granola, protein bars, chips, etc.)
- Frozen desserts and ice cream
- Coffee and tea
- Baked goods and baking mixes
- Beverages (including alcoholic / carbonated)
- Powders, flavours, applications
TECHNOLOGY SECTORS
- Agriculture
- Food Innovation
EQUIPMENT AND LABS
| Equipment | Function |
|---|---|
| A 4000 square foot facility with a large kitchen filled with typical kitchen and factory-scale processing equipment (ovens, mixers, scales, kettles, blenders, etc.) | Applied research and testing |
| Private secured testing kitchen within facility | Proprietary research and development |
| State-of-the-art quantitative sensory testing facility | Consumer sensory evaluation |
| Sensory evaluation software | Consumer sensory evaluation |
| Beverage carbonators | Product development |
| Homogenizer / emulsifier | Product development |
| Mixers (Hobart, Robotcoupe) | Product development |
| Food dehydrator | Product development |
| Freeze drier | Product development |
| Steam kettles (scrape-surface, etc.) | Product development |
| Brew / steeping kettle | Product development |
| Ice cream machine | Product development |
| Blast chiller / freezer | Product development |
| Tabletop convection burners | Product development |
| Combi oven | Product development |
| Accelerated shelf life chambers | Product testing |
| ESHA Genesis nutritional database software | Product testing |
| Quality measurement tools including: Moisture meter, pH meter, Viscometer, Colorimeter, Chromameter, Refractometers, Water Activity Meters, etc. | Product testing |
| Metal detector | Product testing |