Halifax-based Freshr Sustainable Technologies, which makes natural food packaging, has received $232,861 from the Canadian Food Innovation Network.

The money will help Freshr collaborate with Cooke Aquaculture to pilot FreshrPack, an antibacterial coating solution that is applied on film packaging to extend the shelf life of fresh proteins by 15 to 30 percent. Made with naturally derived anti-bacterial components, FreshrPack slows down bacterial growth, reduces chemical spoilage and improves water retention, the innovation network said in a statement. 

The testing will involve integration of FreshrPack-coated skin packaging film rolls into Cooke’s salmon packaging operations. It's intended the project will demonstrate how sustainable, high-performance packaging can reduce food waste in large-scale seafood processing. 

“Early results indicate that FreshrPack can be integrated into existing packaging lines without any changes to workflow, capital expenditure, or staffing,” said Mina Mekhail, CEO and Founder of Freshr. 

This year, the Guelph-based Canadian Food Innovation Network awarded a total of $1,177,496 to five Canadian foodtech startups through its Foodtech Next Program. Industry partners match the funding, bringing total investment to $2,354,992.

The other four beneficiaries this year included:  FoodPM, a division of UDP Software Inc. (BC); Gastronomous Technologies Inc. (Ontario); Knead Technologies (Alberta) and uDesign Solutions Inc. (Ontario).