Local food and drink grown in northern Ontario to be tested at new lab in Sudbury

Food and drink produced in northern Ontario will soon be tested in the north as well.

A new food testing lab called Capella Innovation is about to open in downtown Sudbury.

It's the brainchild of local biologist Andre Ferron and his wife Lucie Plante, who is a dietitian.

"People in the north are producing very good products, so it's very important for them to test for the quality of their products and also the safety," says Ferron.

He says there is a growing number of breweries and distilleries in the north that need their products tested for alcohol content.

Ferronsays they have equipment to test maple syrup and honey for sugar levels, as well as check cheese, meat and other local food products for pathogens such as e.coli and salmonella.

"It's not mandatory for them to do the testing. But the law says they cannot put something on the market that is unsafe for people to eat. So testing the product is like an insurance for them," says Ferron.

He says this will be the only such lab north of Toronto and will allow companies to get their products to market quicker without waiting for test results to come back from southern Ontario.

Ferron says they first had this idea years ago, but are now moving ahead thanks to funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and the Business Development Bank of Canada.