Thomas Canning saved by Mississauga-based company

On 19 July 2017, the Ontario press announced that the Maidstone-based tomato processing company Thomas Canning, which received a CAD 3 million grant from the Province in 2014, has gone into receivership.
Receivership is the latest chapter in a saga that has left in the lurch a number of local farmers who signed contracts to grow tomatoes for the plant last season.

Nine farmers were suing Thomas Canning for CAD 2.85 million for reneging on contracts to grow tomatoes in 2016. At harvest time, the company would not take delivery of the bulk of the tonnage, so tomatoes were left to rot in the fields. Instead of being used to build a “new state-of-the-art fruit and vegetable processing facility”, the grant went to creating and retaining jobs, rebranding the company’s Utopia products and opening up markets in China and Nigeria.
The company is also up before an Ontario court, charged with mislabelling its products.

On 21 July, the local press revealed that Mississauga-based Golden Miles Foods, maker of crackers and cookies, has purchased Thomas Canning.
President Santosh Mahal said he paid the book value of the company as assessed by the receiver – nearly CAD 23.4 million – but plans to scrap the equipment, demolish the building and start anew. The new owner explained he will build on 60 acres (24 hectares) and use the rest of the land (about 240 acres, 97 hectares) to grow tomatoes. Mahal said he hopes to have the new plant running by next summer, contracting farmers to cultivate up to 4 000 acres of tomatoes. The Maidstone plant will produce tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce and pasta sauce. Pasta sauce will be used in another facility of Mahal that is set to open this fall in Brantford, which will produce pasta, as well as bread and pastry.