A southern Saskatchewan mustard processor has lined up federal funding to help buy the equipment to boost its milling volume threefold.
Mustard Capital Inc. (MCI), headquartered at Gravelbourg, Sask., about 115 km southwest of Moose Jaw, will put up $1 million for its new milling facility at nearby Vanguard.
Local Conservative MP David Anderson on Tuesday pledged another $300,000 for the project through the federal Community Adjustment Fund (CAF), to buy and install equipment at the Vanguard plant, about 55 km west of Gravelbourg.
The expanded capacity is expected to translate to a threefold increase in MCI’s annual production volume, creating at least four new jobs at Mustard Capital, the government said.
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The company’s current dry mustard milling facility makes yellow, oriental and brown mustard ingredients, mainly for use in prepared mustards, flavour enhancers, binders and extenders.
MCI’s products are packaged in heat-sealed bags, custom-labelled and shipped to 25 countries in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the company said.
The company, which sources crops from about 250 Saskatchewan mustard growers, says it’s developed a milling process “unique to the Canadian marketplace.” MCI noted it’s also kosher-certified and plans to seek organic certification.
Saskatchewan producers are considered the world’s largest mustard exporters, the government said, citing the crop’s relatively high quality due to the province’s generally hot, dry summers and warm, dry harvest conditions.
The CAF is a two-year, $1 billion federal program supporting projects that create or maintain jobs in what are traditionally considered one-industry communities. Western Canada gets $306 million, delivered via Western Economic Diversification (WD).
The CAF requires that approved projects such as the MCI plant be completed by March 31, 2011 “with no requirement for continued support.”
