Herbs and Spice Overview

Canadian production of herbs and spices is centered in Western Canada.  The types of herbs and spices grown in Canada include, but are not limited to, the following:

The herb industry is comprised of many different crops that have diverse end uses: culinary, medicinal (human and veterinarian), essential oil and cosmetic (dermaceutical).

Culinary herbs include chives, cilantro, oregano, peppermint, rosemary, sage, spearmint, summer savory, sweet basil, sweet marjoram, thyme and, to a lesser extent arugula, borage, fennel, horseradish and tarragon.

Medicinal and cosmetic herbs include arnica, astragalus, burdock, calendula, catnip, comfrey, dandelion, fireweed, ginseng, goldenrod, goldenseal, hawthorn, lavender, licorice, marshmallow, milk thistle, motherwort, mugwort, mullein, red clover, sea-buckthorn, seneca, Siberian ginseng, skullcap, stinging nettle, St. John's wort, wormwood, yarrow and yellow dock.

Essential or culinary oil herbs include borage, caraway, cilantro and dill. These are often classed as spice crops.

The Canadian herbal market is currently about one tenth the size of the American market. The availability of production, acreage and trade statistics pertaining to the herb and spice industry remains limited. 

The chart below details some of Canada's major herb and spice exports:

Safety and efficacy of herbal products has become a major concern, with the result that Health Canada has established the Natural Health Products (NHP) Regulations to register natural health products in Canada.  The NHP Regulations came into effect in January 2004.  Under these regulations, manufacturers are required to adhere to a set of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). Growers who provide raw materials for the manufacturing industry play a fundamental role in ensuring safety and quality assurance.  The National Herb and Spice Coalition along with the American Herbal Products Association, the American Spice Trade Association and the Canadian Natural Health Products Directorate have been working on developing comprehensive Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) based on HACCP principles.  These GAPs will ensure a strong value chain of traceability and safety tightly linked with the existing processing Good Manufacturing Practices in both the culinary and medicinal worlds.  The first GAP, Good Practices for Plant Identification, is available on the Saskatchewan Herb and Spice website, http://www.saskherbspice.org/.

Key Sector Trends

• Healthy lifestyles - this has lead to an increase in the use of herbs/spices for natural flavouring instead of salt.  Consumers are also demanding products such as natural flavourings, organic foods, and safe dietary supplements. 
• Increased use of fresh herbs by the restaurant sector.
• Growth in the global market for spices is due to the following reasons:
  • Increased demand for ethnic foods;
  • Innovation in beverage products (such as flavoured coffee, ready-to-drink teas and nutritional beverages);
  • Growth in processed food consumption;
  • Desire to make functional foods more palatable; and
  • Increasing demand for natural fragrances over synthetic aroma chemicals driven by public concerns over health and allergic reactions. (In Canada and the U.S. the male perfumes sector is growing the fastest.).
• Increased use of medicinal herbs as alternative therapy is becoming more widely accepted.
• Use of medicinal herbs for cultural or spiritual needs as the Canadian population continues to diversify.
• Essential oils are growing in popularity for use in food and beverage flavouring and fragrances.

There are many value-added opportunities in the herb and spice industry. These include:  fresh packed culinary herbs, spice blending for retail, medicinal herbs, encapsulation herbal dietary supplements, and the extraction of essential oils.  Many of these opportunities overlap with the nutraceutical market.

Saskatchewan Sector

It is estimated that there are about 50 herb producers/collectors in Saskatchewan. These numbers include field production and plants collected from the wild.  About 10 to 15 per cent do primary to secondary processing of product.  Spice producer numbers vary as conventional farmers incorporate these crops into their rotations.  According to SAF there are approximately 70 different spice and herb crops grown in the province.  Crops include coriander, caraway, dill, fenugreek, anise, cumin, borage, chamomile, echinacea, valerian, St. John's wort, milk thistle, feverfew, dock, chaga, burdock, senega, fireweed, dandelion, arnica, comfrey, sea buckthorn, nettle, lavender, red clover blossom, sweet flag, sweet grass, and yarrow. Culinary crops include sweet basil, garlic, tarragon, dill and parsley.

Over the last 20 years there has been significant growth in the production and primary processing of herbs and spices in Saskatchewan.  With the growing consumer demand for medicinal herbs and value-added products, annual sales growth in the herb and spice industry is expected. 

There are a number of primary processing facilities in Saskatchewan, and a few that do value-added processing such as blending, encapsulation, oil extraction, preparation of sauces, and medicinal salves.

Some of the companies in Saskatchewan that have emerged as leaders in the growing herb and spice industry are:

• Emerald Seed Products Ltd., located in Regina is a processor, marketer, and research and development company specializing in fenugreek extracts. They have developed products such as FenFiber^TM, Canafen^TM, and FenuLife^TM, which have uses as dietary supplements and functional food ingredients. The company is strategically integrated to world-wide markets through the FenuLife^TM label.
• Fytokem Products Inc., located in Saskatoon markets a group of skin care products developed from fireweed. They market to North America, Europe and Japan and have signed a distribution agreement with a German company that supplies such companies as Estee Lauder and L'Oreal.
• Natural Plantation Inc. in the Wadena area is involved in processing and encapsulating the common weed portulaca into a product called "Super D Master." Elsie Belcheff, a herbologist, developed the product from over three years of research, and began production in 1999. She currently is growing quickly from word of mouth testimonials and sales through the health food store market.
• Paradise Foods International^TM of Weyburn is active in hydroponicly growing fresh culinary herbs, drying of organic herbs and spices and doing custom processing, prototyping, and test marketing of many products. They also have been successful in value adding with four kinds of pesto sauce, which they market to various retail and food service companies.
• Sangsters Health Centres of Saskatoon has developed its own line of almost 300 private label vitamins, minerals, herbs and sports nutrition products. It is one of the fastest growing companies in Saskatchewan and is actively researching and developing new products.
• Prairie Sage Organics Cooperative, founded in 2003 in Porcupine Plain, is marketing packaged certified organic herbal teas. 

 Ibid.

 The Herb and Spice Industry, Saskatchewan Agrivision Corporation, http://www.agrivision.ca/