SR&ED for food processors
Reformulating a recipe under constraint, extending shelf life, adapting a thermal process to a new raw material: this work is SR&ED, and it is rarely claimed.
- Reformulation and substitution
- Shelf life and stability
- Thermal processes and packaging
SR&ED in food processing
A food processor claims SR&ED for work that resolves a technological uncertainty about a formulation, a process or a package: removing an additive without losing product stability, extending shelf life without changing taste, adapting a thermal treatment to a raw material whose properties vary. The federal credit is 35% of eligible expenditures, refundable for a Canadian-controlled private corporation, and 15% non-refundable for others. Developing a recipe is not eligible in itself; resolving a technical difficulty it raises is.
- 01
Formulation
Substituting an ingredient, reducing sodium or sugar, removing an allergen: where the substitution degrades texture, stability or shelf life, the trials run to correct it are experimental development.
- 02
Processes
Pasteurization, drying, fermentation, freezing: adapting a schedule to a variable raw material or to a new format is SR&ED where the outcome is not predictable in advance.
- 03
Shelf life and packaging
Shelf-life studies, modified atmospheres and packaging barriers produce dated trial data — precisely the evidence an audit asks for.
Have your product development work assessed
Tell us about a reformulation or a process trial from the past year. We will tell you whether the credit applies.
Frequently asked questions
Not in itself. Creating a flavour variant or adjusting a seasoning is routine work. What is eligible is resolving a technical difficulty the recipe raises: a substitution that destabilizes an emulsion, a salt reduction that shortens shelf life, a texture that does not hold at industrial scale.
Yes, where they establish a result that was not predictable, for example after a change of formulation, packaging or process. Repeated conformity testing on a stable product already on the market does not enter the claim.
Yes. Material consumed or destroyed in the course of eligible work is an eligible expenditure, including rejected batches. The quantities must however be tied to an identified trial rather than absorbed into general production loss.
Often yes. Moving from a pilot batch to an industrial line frequently raises uncertainties that laboratory trials could not settle: thermal behaviour, shear, residence time. The work done to resolve them is experimental development.
We work with your research and development, production and quality teams to identify eligible work, structure the trial documentation and draft the claim.