FREDERIC SERRE
The Advocate

Les Fermes Burnbrae, Quebec’s largest egg processing plant, has just received a major boost from the Quebec government to the tune of $2.8 million that will allow Burnbrae to modernize its facility in the village of Upton in Montérégie.

Quebec Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne made the announcement Nov. 22, saying the loan will allow Burnbrae, which employs 160 workers, to increase its competitiveness, as it will be able to make better use of its production capacity.

Quebec’s Ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie, through Investissement Québec, is providing a loan of just over $1.8 million, while the provincial Agriculture Ministry is contributing $1 million.

Renovations to the Burnbrae plant will include new technological units designed to recirculate water in a closed circuit at the Upton plant. Thanks to these units, effluent will gradually be freed of all pollutants to reach potable quality, thus promoting the reuse of water in the industrial process. As a result, consumption of potable water from outside the plant will be significantly reduced.

“This announcement kills two birds with one stone,” said Lamontagne. “It strengthens the plant’s competitiveness, while preserving the municipality of Upton’s drinking water supply. I’m very pleased with this financial support for Burnbrae Farms, which will enable it to improve its facilities.”

The Upton plant processes 702 million eggs a year into various pasteurized liquid products, making it the largest egg processing plant in Quebec. These egg products are sold to the retail trade, the hotel, restaurant and institutional foodservice network, and food processing companies. Thirty per cent of its products are sold in Quebec, 68 per cent elsewhere in Canada and 2 per cent are shipped to the United States.