Food Safety and Growth Initiative Intake 2

Overview

The Food Safety and Growth Initiative Intake 2 (the Initiative) provides funding opportunities for small agri-food businesses to stimulate business growth by:

• modernizing food safety systems
• adopting new food safety and traceability equipment, technologies and standards

Funding for the Initiative comes from the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP). Up to $2 million has been currently allocated for the Initiative.

Important dates

Application intake will open on October 19, 2026.

The deadline to apply is March 1, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. ET, or when available funding is fully committed, whichever comes first.

Eligibility

Refer to the Initiative guidelines for detailed requirements.

Applicants

Applicant must:

• be a primary producer, processor or service provider in the agriculture or food sector
• have fewer than 100 employees at the project location

Projects

Projects must stimulate business growth in the agriculture and food sector by doing 1 or more of the following:

• modernizing food safety systems
• adopting new food safety and traceability equipment, technologies and standards

Projects must take place at facilities that produce, process or service food products listed. It is not a requirement for facilities to exclusively handle these products. However, the eligible costs must be directly tied to an eligible food product as a final product at the end stage of handling at the project location.

Foods of plant origin

These include:

• ready-to-eat minimally processed fruit and vegetables
• ready-to-eat bagged salads, leafy greens or herbs
• sprouted seeds
• frozen fruit and vegetables
• unpasteurized fruit or vegetable juice (such as apple cider)
• nuts (such as peanuts and tree nuts) and nut products (such as nut butters and packaged nut mixes)

Meat products

These include:

• slaughter or processing of poultry, beef, lamb/mutton, goat or swine
• canned meats
• meat spreads (such as pâté)
• frankfurters
• deli meats
• whole-muscle dry-cured meats
• dried meat products
• fermented sausages
• other ready-to-eat meat products

Ready-to-eat meals, prepared meals and meal kits that contain meat are not eligible under this Initiative.

Dairy products

These include:

• sheep milk
• water buffalo milk
• fresh and soft white cheese
• firm cheese
• soft cheese
• semi-soft cheese
• unpasteurized (raw milk) cheese
• ice cream
• other frozen dairy products

Other

These include:

• ready-to-eat spreads and dips (such as hummus, tzatziki and spinach dip)
• plant-based milk alternative beverages
• plant-based frozen dairy alternatives
• other plant-based dairy alternative products

Funding

If approved, you are eligible to receive 50% of eligible project costs up to a maximum of $75,000 per project.

You can have only 1 application under the Initiative.

Stacking

You cannot submit an application for a project where you have already received funding for that project through Sustainable CAP.

You can apply for and receive other government or third-party funding if the other programs allow stacking.

If you have received funding for the project through other sources, the total assistance provided from all funding sources cannot be greater than 100% of the total eligible costs.

All funding for a project, including from additional sources, must be listed on the application form.

How to apply

1. Download and read the Initiative guidelines.
2. Download and complete the application form.
3. Gather the required documents.
4. Submit the application and required documents to SustainableCAP1@ontario.ca.

Required documents

In addition to your application form, you must provide:

• written quotes from third parties detailing the proposed eligible costs for the project
• a course outline, detailing training to be provided and outcomes, including a cost summary or a quote from a training provider, if providing training as part of the project

After you apply

After you submit your application, we will send you an acknowledgement email within 5 business days.

We will review applications in the order they are received.

If you are an eligible applicant under the Initiative, we will review your application against eligible costs.

If you are not approved

We will email you about the decision.

If you are approved

We will email you about the decision. We will also email you an approval letter.

You will need to meet several obligations including:

• signing the approval letter
• registering with Transfer Payment Ontario
• registering to Supply Ontario to receive payments
• submitting claim(s) and final report

Refer to Initiative guidelines for detailed instructions.