{"id":14762,"date":"2026-04-22T14:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T14:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/14762\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T14:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T14:29:09","slug":"canada-launches-upcycled-food-network-amid-category-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/14762\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada launches upcycled food network amid category growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The growing upcycling movement<\/a> got a boost on April 22 with the launch of a network of upcycling stakeholders in Canada led by the Upcycled Food Association (UFA).<\/p>\n

The new network results from research conducted in 2025 by Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in partnership with UFA that investigated the opportunities and challenges within the fledgling upcycling movement. <\/p>\n

Amanda Oenbring, CEO of the Upcycled Food Association, said Vineland\u2019s research, funded by the Canadian government in 2025, culminated in a summit of stakeholders in June 2025 to explore the needs within the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe momentum we\u2019re seeing in Canada reflects a food system that is ready to scale upcycling,\u201d said Oenbring. \u201cBy establishing a Canadian hub, we can support industry alignment, global standards and collaboration \u2013 helping Canadian companies grow while contributing to a more circular food system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sustainable Sourcing: From upcycling to carbon neutral to sustainable packaging<\/p>\n

This story is part of a special edition focused on environmental challenges and opportunities in the packaged food and beverage industry. Check out the full selection here<\/a> . Or to receive special editions in your email inbox, register for the newsletter by clicking yellow ‘register’ button in the top right corner of the homepage.<\/p>\n

Upcycling is upscaling<\/p>\n

UFA defines upcycling foods as those that \u201cuse ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains and have a positive impact on the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US upcycled food market currently stands at $109.3 million, up 30.3% from $83.9 million a year ago, according to SPINS data. <\/p>\n

Shelf-stable products like packaged goods, beverages and baked goods<\/a> hold the majority of the market at $63.8 million, followed by frozen at $33.9 million and refrigerated products, like dairy products, at $11.6 million, according to SPINS. <\/p>\n

Upcycling also is scaling with certification, according to Where Food Comes From, a US business that operates a certification program<\/a> developed by UFA for upcycled food products, in its 2025 Impact Report.<\/p>\n

More than 600 products and 137 brands joined the program as of 2025, with snack foods, pet products and produce taking the top three product categories. <\/p>\n

Awareness is growing as more food manufacturers certify and promote their upcycled status, according to Vinodthan Nayagar, EVP of Growth Strategy at Where Food Comes From.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see a lot of brands and new brands coming up; they\u2019re doing a lot of innovation,\u201d said Nayagar, noting that upcycled products were more prolific at Natural Products Expo West 2026 than in previous years. \u201cIt was nice to see more brands showing up and being really proud about being Upcycle Certified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Food Comes From noted in its report that in 2025, Upcycled Certified products diverted 1.23 million tons of food waste from landfills.<\/p>\n

Collaboration needed in upcycled foods<\/p>\n

The industry\u2019s rapid growth requires greater collaboration among stakeholders, according to Vineland and UFA.<\/p>\n

Fragmentation is the industry\u2019s biggest hurdle, according to Alexandra Grygorczyk, new UFA Board Member and Research Scientist and food upcycling lead at Vineland. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe June forum during Upcycled Food Month was designed to bring together the people, perspectives and expertise needed to move beyond individual successes and start building a more connected approach to food upcycling,\u201d Grygorczyk said.<\/p>\n

The 2025 summit revealed four major pain points for the industry, including the need for: <\/p>\n

Stronger connections across the food value chainGreater alignment between innovators, processors and ingredient suppliersImproved visibility and a shared language around upcycled foodA national platform to support credibility, collaboration and market development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The growing upcycling movement got a boost on April 22 with the launch of a network of upcycling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,7836,7837,7838,7839,7840,7841,7842,7843,7844,7078,7845],"class_list":["post-14762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-crops","tag-cultivation-methods","tag-harvest","tag-harvesting-methods","tag-planting-season","tag-planting-techniques","tag-seasonal-work","tag-soil-health","tag-soil-quality","tag-sustainability","tag-yields"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}