Welcome all Canadian food processors and manufacturers! This website is a human resource tool for food processors, manufacturers, employees, educational stakeholders, and anybody that would like to learn more about the Canadian food processing industry, and related human resource tools and training resources.

This website strives to offer excellence for those in need of national training and learning resources in the food processing industry, and increased awareness and knowledge surrounding the sector. These needs may include gaining information on; food processing facts, labour market information relating to the food processing industry, educational programs, career information, and other relevant industry information.

INDUSTRY HAS SPOKEN…IT IS A GO FOR THE CREATION OF A NATIONAL HR FOOD PROCESSING SECTOR COUNCIL

In response to a demonstrated human resource need from the food processing industry, and after years of research and nation wide consultations with key stakeholders, the Food Processing Sector strongly endorsed the development of a national body to address its Human Resource challenges. Led by the National Food Advisory Committee, together with support from the National Seafood Sector Council (NSSC) and Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), this initiative has been anticipated for some time.

Click here to learn more and download the report.

Canada’s food processing sector is extremely diverse. The industry consists of more than 5, 545 firms representing various sizes, structures and sub-sectors that produce over $50 billion in annual sales.

The following is a list taken from a nationally conducted report in 2005. The report was entitled Overview of the Food Processing Industry and the various sub-industries of the broader food processing sector.

• Animal Food Production
• Grain and Oilseed
• Sugar and Confectionary
• Fruit and Vegetable
• Dairy
• Meat and Poultry
• Fish and Seafood
• Bakery
• Other

To learn more about these different food commodity groups, please view the full report by clicking here, and the executive summary by clicking here.

The industry is the country’s third largest manufacturing industry, employing more than 265, 600 people in Meat product manufacturing has the largest workforce (67, 909) compared to the other food commodity groups, while the grain and oilseed sector has the lowest (8, 158). The seafood industry accounts for 15% of the total food processing industry workforce in Canada.

Industry Realities
The food processing sector is facing some important challenges including the use of technologies and competitiveness in existing and emerging Canadian and international markets. The landscape of the food processing sector is changing as a result of several new industry realities. These realities are stated below in brief.

Consolidation-the Big are Getting Bigger
As retail and food service buyers become larger through consolidation, food processors that can accommodate larger volumes are sought after, particularly those from plants with pan-Canadian distribution. Larger orders generally result in reduced margins for food processors as well as facility constraints for small and medium sized businesses. It is not cost effective for large processors to produce smaller, niche product runs; this has led to an opportunity for small and medium sized processors.

Increased Technology and Automation
The number of technologies used by a plant is found to be highly correlated with expected gains in firm performance. Stringent controls and the use of technology have helped improve food processing production aspects such as shelf life; however this technology needs to be applied with precision. Firms that lack adequate training strategies are at a disadvantage and tend to adopt fewer advanced technologies.

Product Development
Changes in consumer preferences and demographics have put pressure on food processors to create products and categories through new product development. Industry statistics identify that 95% of new products fail; therefore, a considerable amount of development is needed for a very small percentage of products that will actually be launched. Many industry stakeholders identified a lack of qualified research and development personnel (in fact, there was a decrease in R&D personnel from 1998 to 2000)

For a more detailed listing of industry realities, please view the report - Overview of the Food Processing Industry.

The National Seafood Sector Council (NSSC) assists food and seafood processing companies both large and small, and their workers, from coast to coast, with training, skills upgrading and more. The council promotes a training culture and supports the development of a competitive and stable industry through its greatest asset - PEOPLE.

NSSC is a national organization that serves employers, employees, educators, trainers, and others in the seafood processing industry and hopes to do the same for the broader food processing sector.

NSSC offers products relating to training and learning that can be applied to various stakeholders in the food processing industry.

The council is also committed to disseminate relevant information to the industry on the availability of training and other related issues. Sector councils help Canadians and Canadian companies prosper.

The NSSC forms project teams with people working in the processing industry and consultants who understand these environments. From there the programs are developed and then get validated by people who work in the industry.

One service that NSSC offers is that of regional representatives. Currently, there are six representatives covering seven regions in Canada (Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec). The representatives work at the "grassroots level" to solve the human resources and training challenges that the seafood and fish processing industry faces.

What Do Sector Councils Do?
In January of 1997, twenty-three sectors or cross-sectoral groups of the Canadian economy had Sector Councils in operation. Their overall goal is to improve the quality of the Canadian labour force, and to assist firms to be more flexible in meeting changing competitive demands. By bringing together corporate executives, owner-operators of smaller firms, employees, union leaders, educators and interested government representatives, Sector Councils provide a practical perspective on change.
Sector Councils address a wide range of issues related to technological change, quality standards, planning, and human resource development. They do not expect a single approach to address all the potential issues for all sectors of the economy - the demands are far too varied. Instead, Canada's Sector Councils have focused on what works for their sector. They have implemented programs as diverse as the sectors themselves. Currently, there are approximately thirty-three sector councils in Canada.

Key issues addressed by Sector Councils include:

• how Canadian companies and plants operate to meet international quality standards;
  
• how individuals are hired, and how careers are managed as firms strive to meet international quality standards;
  
• how training is viewed, developed and delivered to a diverse workforce to ensure that it prepares new employees and existing staff to meet international quality requirements;
  
• how employment in seasonal industries can be extended to improve the stability of employment and to use existing buildings and equipment more efficiently.

The National Seafood Sector Council (NSSC) has been serving the seafood processing sector successfully for over eleven years. During this time, NSSC has continued to offer a high caliber of training and development materials to meet the HR needs of the seafood processing industry. NSSC has managed to bring together employers, employees, associations, regulatory agencies, private trainers, educators, and many stakeholders together to work toward one common goal: a strong and prosperous seafood processing industry created by a well-trained and productive workforce.

NSSC in collaboration with the government of Canada undertook the management of a feasibility study of the food processing industry. The study led to the creation of the report entitled Overview of the Food Processing Industry. Through careful analysis of the full report it is apparent that there exist real commonalities of human resource issues between fish and food industries, such as the role of immigration, promotion of the industry, wage rates, and working conditions, and therefore a strategic direction of the National Seafood Sector Council is to continue the process of identifying the HR challenges of the food processing sector.

Through the next phase of research, NSSC hopes to clearly identify that a need exists for a national umbrella organization.