A vegan patty with punch for Choose Life Foods
Choose Life Foods is a Toronto-based business that provides plant-based Caribbean food options, sold across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Learn about the project below.
Project Essentials
- Principal Investigators: Bruna Nastaro
- Years Active: 2022
- Research Area: Food & Beverage
The Challenge
Choose Life Foods is a Toronto-based business that provides plant-based Caribbean food options, known for their vegan patties, which are shipped and sold frozen. The company wanted to approach a national distributor, so to ensure their product line is as strong as possible Choose Life Foods approached FIRSt to optimize the pastry used for the patties, and the filling for their products.
The GBC Solution
The FIRSt research team, made up of Bruna Nastaro, Food Science Technologist and Candace Rambert, Lab Operations Manager, set out to optimize the pastry of the patties for better shelf life and improved texture and color. The team reviewed the client's formulations and co-manufacturer info, replicated the recipes. The prototypes for the new improved products were created and tested in the FIRSt lab.
The Result
When the project wrapped, FIRSt had optimized the filling of the vegan 'beef' patties to improve the texture and make it closer to that of actual beef, as well as tweaking the flavor and spice level. In addition to these optimization objectives, FIRSt also developed a new filling for a planned Chick’n patty, as well updated Nutritional Facts info and new processing instructions. The products are now better than before, with a longer shelf life.
