Naylor Farms will transform cabbage crops into a “highly sustainable and nutritious protein source,” says CEO

06 Dec 2021 --- Coleslaw cabbage grower, Naylor Farms, a 110-year-old UK-based farming business has applied for planning permission to build a plant-based protein extraction facility in Lincolnshire to produce protein ingredients made from cabbage.

The company has invented a gentle cold extraction process that produces protein-plus functional ingredients from cabbages.

“The process is fully patented,” Simon Naylor, CEO of Naylor Nutrition tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“Cabbage protein is rich in vitamins and nutrients such as calcium, iron, vitamin C, K, B2, B6, omega 3 and 3, 6 and 9 essential amino acids. In fact it has five times more iron than pea or soy protein,” explains Naylor. 

It is fully functional whereas other plant based ingredients like pea and soy are denatured proteins,” he adds.

Around 2,000 metric tons of cabbage crop and leaf from coleslaw production will be repurposed into plant-based protein ingredients weekly at the envisaged facility in Ragnall Gate, Spalding.

The company wants whole head cabbages, leaves and trimmings to be turned into functional ingredients for the plant-based food sector.

It says the cold process makes the vitamins and proteins available for the human body to process making the final ingredient healthier.The company plans to innovate with a wider variety of plant proteins from different vegetables in future.Cabbage protein is rich in vitamins and nutrients such as calcium, iron and vitamin C.

A head for cabbages
According to Naylor, the R&D process took eight years from concept, research, testing to a fully operating factory.

“It’s always been our ambition to utilize our whole cabbage crop and turn it into a highly nutritious and sustainable food product,” he says.

The world has a growing requirement for sustainable plant-based food for which crops that have positive functional benefits are needed that do not have the negative ecological footprint of soy, for example. 

“Cabbage on the other hand, is fully traceable from field to consumer, sustainable and relatively simple to grow with a high yield. This innovative facility is being built on our land so the food miles from field to processing are at a minimum,” outlines Naylor.

Pea protein which is used in plant-based foods such as burgers is currently under threat with droughts and wet harvests impacting on both the global price and availability of the ingredient. 

Naylor claims, however, that cabbage-based protein is a sustainable, locally sourced, allergen and GMO-free alternative.

Not your average garden variety grower
Plant-based products are no longer niche, with various international consumer groups embracing them for healthier and more sustainable alternatives to traditional meat and dairy products.

“The plant-based market is predicted to be worth US$74.2 billion by 2027 so there is a huge potential to build plant-based extraction sites around the world in the next five to ten years,” comments Naylor. “They will be able to repurpose a whole range of vegetables, not just cabbage, which will answer the world’s plea for healthy, sustainable plant-based food,” he underscores.

The new facility will use renewable energy sources such as rainwater collection and recycling and surplus office heat from the processing. A meadow and small woodland area will be created to naturalize the building and create a haven for fauna and flora. The facility will be used as a primary training center for employees.

Lincoln University will also be involved with the development of an in-house research center at the factory.

As the plant-based arena continues to diversify, Atura Proteins-commissioned research recently revealed that F&B manufacturers are 56% more likely to invest their NPD budgets in plant-based products next year.

In this space, Innova Market Insights has crowned “Plant-Based: The Canvas for Innovation” as its number two trend for 2022.

By Inga de Jong