Canada’s biggest distributor of food products to the restaurant and institutional sectors has picked up public funding to consolidate three processing plants in the Greater Toronto Area at one site.
Sysco Canada will get $1 million from Ontario’s Rural Economic Development program toward setting up a single new processing plant at Vaughan in the York Region north of Toronto.
The move is expected to allow Sysco to increase its production capacity, double its sales of local meat and produce, protect 135 jobs and add 35 more, the province said in a release Thursday.
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“Our new meat facility and produce facility here in Vaughan will help us expand our product lines, source more local food from Ontario farmers and create jobs for the community,” Sysco Canada president Joel Grade said in the province’s release.
The plants being consolidated include custom meat-cutting operations in Vaughan and Etobicoke and a fresh vegetable processing plant at Vaughan.
Sysco, which operates plants across Canada and in the U.S., holds several foodservice brands including Wholesome Farms dairy goods and shell eggs, BakerSource breads, Butcher’s Block beef and Fry-On corn/canola oil.
The company also distributes foodservice goods from major processors including McCain, Maple Leaf, Saputo, Agropur, Lassonde, XL Foods, Cargill, Kraft, Danone, Olymel and Maple Lodge.
