SASKATCHEWAN TOLL PROCESSING CENTRE OPENS IN MELFORT

Released on September 11, 2006

The Saskatchewan Toll Processing Centre held its grand opening today in Melfort.

Agriculture and Food Minister Mark Wartman participated in the ribbon cutting and official opening of the Centre, which is receiving $3.3 million in funding over three years as part of the Province's Meat Processing Strategy announced last year.

"I am pleased that, with the grand opening of the Saskatchewan Toll Processing Centre, we have removed a significant barrier to growth for the meat processing industry in Saskatchewan," Wartman said. "The need for toll processing was first identified by our food processing industry and we addressed this need in our Meat Processing Strategy."

Toll processing provides interim production capacity for new or expanding markets. It allows a new or expanding company to have its product custom-produced in a federally-inspected facility until it can afford to build a plant of its own. It also enhances the capacity of firms to produce small and medium volumes of products on a cost-competitive basis.

"We are currently working on almost a dozen product lines at the Centre," Bison Feeder Co-op of Saskatchewan Director of Marketing Roger Provencher said. "With the toll processing facility, we can add more value to our product, which in turn can give higher returns to our producers. If we didn't have this facility in Saskatchewan, we would have to go out of province."

Toll processing services have been identified by the industry as a necessity to allow Saskatchewan food processors to bridge the gap between product development, commercial scale production and growth in market share.

"The Saskatchewan Toll Processing Centre will enable our agricultural industry to process more of what we produce in the province," Wartman said. "It will strengthen our meat processing industry and help it move forward toward greater self-sufficiency."

The Centre was established at Thomson Meats Ltd. in Melfort because they have the processing capability and trained staff to develop innovative new products for the consumer market place, in a practical and cost-effective manner.

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For More Information, Contact:

Scott Brown Agriculture and Food Regina Phone: (306) 787-4031 Email: sbrown@agr.gov.sk.ca Cell: (306) 536-3851