24. January 2020 | 14:11 CET
Beyond Meat, Burcon NutraScience, Nestle - scalable growth with plant proteins
Humanity is always striving for improvement. This has not only been the case since the climate debate, but innovations in all areas of everyday life are constantly changing our lives. The changes will never again be as slow as they are at this moment. Research and development solve problems or create new needs. In the ideal case even both. Nutritious and tasty food with an improved CO2 footprint is on the agenda of food producers like Beyond Meat and Nestle. But developing innovation costs not only money, but also time. The latter usually leads to partnerships or even takeovers.
time to read: 1 minutes by Mario Hose
Pay for 20 years' work
Burcon NutraScience from Canada has been working for 20 years on the development of plant proteins. As was announced today, the company has entered into a comprehensive partnership with one of the world's largest food companies.
The partnership combines Nestle's expertise in the development, production and marketing of plant foods and beverages with Burcon's proprietary technology for the extraction and purification of plant proteins, while leveraging Burcon's JV partner Merit Food's state-of-the-art plant protein production facilities in Manitoba, Canada. The joint venture with production company Merit was only established in May 2019.
Stefan Palzer, Nestle's Chief Technology Officer, explains the collaboration in the company's announcement: 'The partnership with Burcon and Merit will give us access to unique expertise and a new range of high-quality ingredients for plant-based food and beverages.'
Meat substitute from the plant world
The partnership with Nestle validates the expertise Burcon NutraScience has built over more than 20 years of research and development. The company now holds more than 270 patents relating to plant proteins, with a further 260 applications pending.
Burcon NutraScience will be the first company in the world to combine canola and pea proteins. The mixed protein, called Nutratein, has the same amino acid profile as meat. The solubility of Burcon's proteins means that they can also be used in beverages and non-dairy products, another market with enormous potential.
Beyond Meat gets competition
In today's announcement, Nestle mentions that the company already has a vegetable product range consisting of pea, soya and wheat burgers, sausages, minced meat, chicken fillets and various other convenience foods. In addition, the company is also working on plant-based milk alternatives and milk-free ice creams.
This new partnership between Burcon NutraScience and Nestle gives Beyond Meat a serious competitor. At the end of the day, the trend toward climate protection is moving in the right direction with increasing competition. For Burcon NutraScience the framework for scalable growth is now in place.