This episode of The Food Professor #podcast highlights the release of Canada's Food Price Report, forecasting a 3-5% increase in food costs for 2025, translating to an additional $801 yearly expense for a family of four. Our guest on this episode is Gordon Neal, co-founder and general manager of RFINE Biomass Solutions, based in Halifax; turning Spent Coffee Grounds into Eco-Conscious Profits, RFINE is revolutionizing the quick service coffee industry. Gordon's company transforms spent coffee grounds—80 tractor-trailers daily in Canada—into food-grade ingredients, tackling food waste and methane emissions.
This episode of The Food Professor #podcast highlights the release of Canada's Food Price Report, forecasting a 3-5% increase in food costs for 2025, translating to an additional $801 yearly expense for a family of four. Key drivers include escalating meat prices due to small herd sizes, pork inflation, and avian flu impacting poultry. The eastern provinces face heightened food inflation due to logistics and cyclical patterns.
The report incorporates machine learning, econometrics, and collaboration across universities, emphasizing transparency through self-assessment. It also sheds light on food insecurity in northern communities, aiming to influence policy and consumer awareness.
The episode also features Gordon Neal, co-founder and general manager of RFINE Biomass Solutions, based in Halifax recorded live at the Coffee Association of Canada’s conference live; turning Spent Coffee Grounds into Eco-Conscious Profits, RFINE is revolutionizing the quick service coffee industry by developing technology to sustainably upcycle spent coffee grounds into food-grade ingredients, thereby diverting coffee ground waste from going to landfills and saving retailers money on disposal costs.
Gordon's company transforms spent coffee grounds—80 tractor-trailers daily in Canada—into food-grade ingredients, tackling food waste and methane emissions. Neal describes developing innovative, patented appliances for coffee shops that dehydrate grounds onsite for upcycling into products like cocoa substitutes, animal feed, and ingredients for black soldier fly larvae farming.
The discussion transitions to alternative proteins and sustainability, emphasizing public hesitance to change diets for climate reasons but highlighting economic incentives as effective drivers of behaviour change. The episode underscores how rising costs push consumers toward plant-based options.
We conclude with reflections on consumer engagement, policy challenges like GST on food, and the potential environmental impact of methane-reducing feed additives for cattle, urging transparency and quality assessments.