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- [Dr. Marangoni] Sustainability and the viability
of our planet to support human life
has come to a critical point.
- [Dr. Keener] And those numbers are very significant.
40%, all of that effort, water, energy,
that went into the processing of those foods.
- [Stacie Dobson] High demand for animal proteins,
not only do they take quite the extensive process to create,
but the greenhouse gases and the emissions
that are caused are quite extensive.
- [Dr. Marangoni] One of the main issues is our food supply
because we will reach the level of 9 billion people
very, very soon.
- The goals of the Barrett Chair
are to develop a focal point
for sustainable food systems within Canada.
The primary areas that we're focused on
are environmental sustainability.
The intent is to integrate in processes
that are going to use less water,
use less energy, emit less greenhouse gas emissions.
- The other thing that the Barrett Foundation
has been very powerful is in supplying
proof of concept funding.
One of them on meat analogs without extrusion.
- Where you reach very high temperatures
and high amounts of pressure.
The process that we use to create this meat analog
is very sustainable without the need
for the expensive equipment,
and also the large processing demands.
- The other proof of concept project
has been on the creation of alternative fats,
particularly in the replacement of palm oil.
We have used enzymes to be able to very simply
and very safely transform liquid oils into solid fats
without adding saturated fat, without hydrogenating.
So now we can use things like cotton seed oil,
peanut oil, rice bran oil, and turn them into fats
just by a simple, low temperature enzymatic reaction.
- In Dr. Keener's lab, our main focus
is our cold plasma system
to remove the contaminants from the food,
making the food more safe.
And also we're making sure that the quality
of the food remains intact.
As a result, we are not producing any harmful waste residue
such as emission of greenhouse gases
or any leftover chemical residues,
so it's all environmentally safe
- With cold plasma,
we're able to enhance plant growth
and provide natural fertilizer,
eliminate viruses from things like face mask
or other types of personal protective equipment
you might find in hospitals.
We can take things like your bagged lettuce
or your strawberries and we can double the shelf life.
The Barrett Family Foundation gift has been transformative.
Those projects have benefited probably
over 30 or so graduate students
in the last three, four years.
Additionally, there's direct money
that goes towards scholarships.
- All of the research that we do,
we try to publish that and share that.
In doing so, you're able to share that knowledge
outside of just the university.
It's definitely helped me in my professional career
where we've now partnered with other companies,
and they're seeking us out as we've shown
that we're capable of creating high level innovation.
- Until I started working in Dr. Keener's lab,
my goal was to become a researcher.
Now I want to be known as the first person
or the first female of Bangladesh achieving this thing.
This has given me the opportunity
to actually specify my field of research in future.
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- [Dr. Keener] We now have a critical mass of researchers.
The students coming through the program are gaining
from that experience across interdisciplinary fields.
So we're taking that knowledge and packaging that
to the industry.
And when I look down the road towards the future,
it's just extremely exciting,
extremely promising, extremely bright.