New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) will set up a food development centre in the state in collaboration with Canada's Manitoba Food Development Centre (MFDC), a top HSIIDC official said Wednesday.

The centre would help steer a food product through the various stages of development, from initial research through product testing and scale up to marketing, said HSIIDC managing director Rajeev Arora.

Arora signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Robin McRae of Manitoba Food Development Centre here Wednesday.

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Manitoba (a province of Canada) deputy minister for food and agriculture Barry Todd were present on the occasion.

'The MoU envisages conducting an exercise for identification of the most suitable location for setting up a Food Development Centre in Haryana, besides defining ownership, funding and operating models for the projects,' Arora said.

He said MFDC would provide product development services which include formulating a new or improving an existing product, increasing product shelf-life, standardising processes for quality and cost control and identifying packaging alternatives.