Ingredion: Tapping pea proteins for sustainable snacks and alt-dairy
10 Jan 2025 | Ingredion
Ingredion has partnered with Lantmännen to accelerate plant protein development, including investment in a pea protein isolate manufacturing facility in Sweden. Sue Bancroft, director, Healthful Solutions at Ingredion EMEA, tells us why the company specifically chose yellow pea protein for formulating its pea protein isolate and the ingredient's applications in snack bars, sports nutrition products and dairy alternatives.
This is Inha Noreen, a journalist at Food Ingredients First.
Ingidion has recently entered into a strategic partnership with agricultural cooperative Lan Mennen to accelerate the development of plant proteins.
To talk more about this move today, we are joined by Sue Bancroft, who is the director of healthful solutions at Ingredient EMEA.
Welcome, Sue.
Thank you very much.
Great to have you with us.
So, can you start by telling us why the company decided to partner with Lantmanen for plant-based protein development?
Yeah, of course.
So I think at the beginning, there was definitely a shared view of the importance of the vegetable protein market.
And also we both, shared a, a, a, a real desire in terms of working on sustainability and, the innovation within this market.
We can see that we both took it very seriously.
At the initial stage of the conversations.
And then as we started to develop the partnership more and the discussions, it was really clear that there was a great synergy between the capabilities that both parties had.
You know, Lampman being very close to the farmer owners, so a totally verti vertically integrated supply chain.
And then ingredient already being players in the the plant based protein market, really bringing that sort of knowledge about the market and the key elements that would make development in the market successful.
So that was really where we started to to come together and see there could be a very strong synergy and partnership to to the market in Europe.
OK, great to know, know that.
And you also announced that the partnership includes a significant investment, in a manufacturing facility in Sweden.
So what are some of the facilities and the ways by which the site can help accelerate the production of plant protein?
Yeah, I, so Lapman and are investing, €100 million in this.
It will be a state of the art facility built around the fact that, there will be innovation in pe-isolate, production.
There's a lot of emphasis on circularity as , I think that's something that is er important to, to both of us and really looking at bringing the most relevant portfolio that that we can to the market, so it's it's exciting being able to create for that with a new facility.
OK, great.
That's interesting to know.
And, do you have any particular reason why Eidon chose to produce these plant protein isolates from yellow peas in particular?
I think it, we would be interested in knowing more about it.
Yeah, so, peas are, peas are extremely relevant and continue to be relevant for, for the food and beverage market.
And pea protein is, is continuing to gain traction as in terms of, the the versatility of the product within different applications.
I think compared to other proteins, we, we really understood.
That there was an advantage when it came to some of the sustainability elements like water usage, for example in terms of production, as as a real alternative when it came to allergens such as dairy or soy.
So we see that there's a a real growth opportunity, for the pea protein isolates in particular.
And I think, you know, from our perspective it was just natural to sort of look at how we could continue to develop.
That market and, and really, address our customer needs within that.
OK.
And you briefly mentioned about this application.
So can you tell us more about the food and beverage application?
Yes, and, and that's the other thing that's, that's the really sort of promising about the, the partnership because we have a lot of technical and application expertise in Ingredient and we really understand the opportunities, for the product in plant-based beverages, for example, ready to drink beverages and ready to mix, shakes.
There are opportunities within, dairy alternatives, of course, very important area of, of.
Growth within the market.
There's also snack bars and protein bars and not necessarily just about the bars for the protein content alone, but the fact that they're a healthy alternative and it's really about tapping into that healthy, growth of, of the, of the market.
Bakery and healthy snacking, again, very important.
So it it's, there are, there are many applications.
I think the one that we're probably seeing grow.
It's really in the sports nutrition area, so it's not just now about catering for, vegan alternatives in terms of line extensions.
There are a lot of people who are wanting to balance the, their diets and bring in more plant-based products, so it's more about core new business development and product development, that we're seeing as , so it's a, it's an exciting time.
OK, that's great to know.
And would you also like to talk about some challenges that you faced by formulating this isolate?
I think challenges in the market are all, they're the same for for for many , products, you know, it's really getting the balance between taste, and then the right function within the different applications.
So you really have to look at the, Portfolio as a whole, and it isn't that one product will fit all, you know, we have to look at dispersability for beverages, we have to look at the mouth feel when it comes to bars, so it's a question of just making sure that we're developing the right portfolio for the different applications.
OK, great.
And in future, do you have any upcoming innovations or projects from Engiron that you'd like to share with us?
Yeah, we do actually.
So there is a product being launched in the, US, it has just been launched.
And this one really does tackle what I was mentioning earlier about, dispersability and solubility, which is something that's really important in, the beverage, market.
So we have launched a product called P200D, and that is designed for nutritional beverages to really sort of bring that protein content, the nutritional values, but the functionality in terms of dispersability, and mouthfeel, making, making the products, great to consume.
Yeah, great.
And talking about the protein and what demands consumers are presenting nowadays, I think it would be nice to end this conversation with your opinion on how do you think, consumer food choices will evolve in the future, with, I think in respect to plant protein.
Great question.
I think, so we see that really the market is continuing to strengthen.
There there have been discussions about how important nutritional diets are becoming, it's, it's still about joyful eating, it's still about interesting and indulgent foods, but consumers are asking for more, they're asking for.
Increased function, increased nutritional benefits, so we only really see this increasing.
I think as people are becoming much more, we know , demanding of products in terms of its sustainability, you know, the the credentials behind it, the supply chain, and I think vegetable proteins and plant based products in general really do.
Respond to to these consumer needs.
So I think we're going to see more growth, we're going to see more relevance, and probably more variety in terms of the sources of the products as , and I think that's something that's really exciting in the market that we'll start to see more variety, different taste and function profiles, and there's more opportunity for innovation within this area.
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights, Sue.
Thanks for your time.
My pleasure.
Thank you very much.
