Canadian brand hopes to feed the world’s hungry

Toronto, Ont. – The Campbell Company of Canada’s new nutrient-dense meal, Nourish, is a six-grain vegetable meal featuring a new variety of oats developed by scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Nourish is a complete meal, delivering iron, calcium and a full serving of vegetables, fibre and at least 18 g of protein. The first-of-its-kind product was developed to address the problem of hunger both in Canada and internationally, as well as to be a reliable food source for people impacted by disaster situations abroad.

Toronto-based Campbell will initially donate 100,000 cans of Nourish to Food Banks Canada, and hopes to work with retailers to make the product available for sale in order to fund future donations. The donation was made with the help of suppliers Keystone Foods, McCormick Canada, Norampac and Silgan Containers, which donated ingredients and containers, as well as Pulse Canada.

Naked oats

The product features a new variety of “naked” oat that is hulless and hairless, and which cooks and tastes like rice but with a wider nutritional profile. Naked oats are also gluten-free.

Dr. Vern Burrows, one of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists who developed the naked oat, samples Campbell's Nourish product during its launch.

The whole-grain variety, which took more than 15 years to develop, does not cause the respiratory issues at harvesting that previous hulless varieties did. In addition, during processing it does not require expensive dehulling and sorting equipment, and because it is denser it requires less storage space while reducing transportation costs. As a result, the new variety will benefit farmers, processors and consumers.

“Research has been helping farmers develop, grow and protect crops, and the naked oat is an excellent example of how this research is growing new market opportunities,” says Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister Gerry Ritz. “We are delighted that our innovative variety is part of Campbell’s new product.”

Get involved

To promote Nourish, as well as to help support efforts to alleviate hunger, Campbell is offering consumers a way to trigger a donation of Nourish to Food Banks Canada. Consumers can either view a short video about the product on Facebook, share the video, discuss it on Facebook or on Twitter using the #Nourish hashtag, or like Campbell’s Facebook page or video.

“We embrace our responsibility to make healthy foods that taste good and are accessible to all Canadians regardless of their economic situation or geographic region,” says Philip Donne, president of Campbell Canada. “Nourish is the result of that corporate responsibility coupled with some of the best food we know how to make. We hope it inspires others to join us in addressing the issue of hunger.”