Dive Brief:
- Cargill announced Thursday its protein business has added another asset to its portfolio with the purchase of Five Star Custom Foods Ltd.
- Five Star Custom Foods focuses on cooked protein products and custom prepared soups and sauces for the foodservice and food processing sectors.
- Cargill also announced yesterday the FDA issued a GRAS no objection letter for EverSweet, created with the same sweetness in the stevia leaf, Reb M, and Reb D. The sweetener features improved sweetness without the bitterness or aftertaste, according to a news release.
Dive Insight:
The purchase will assist in optimizing its supply chain as Five Star Custom Foods’ locations in Fort Worth, TX, and Nashville, TN, complement the company’s U.S. geographic footprint, said John Keating, president of Cargill Meats Solutions Corp., in a statement.
In recent months, Cargill has ramped up its commitment to its protein division, which includes an $111 million plant conversion for cooked meat products at its Columbus, NE, facility.
Tyson is another company beefing up its protein assets, and its profits received a boost from expanding cow, hog, and poultry supplies.
These investments are backed by USDA data, which predicts Americans will eat 54.3 pounds of red meat this year, a nearly half-pound increase over 2015.
In regard to EverSweet, Cargill, along with partner Evolva, are developing the stevia plant’s sweetest molecules, Reb M and Reb D through fermentation, which provides a viable sweetness the same as in a stevia leaf, according to a news release.
Another company overcoming the bitter aftertastes associated with sweeteners using stevia is S&W Seed Co. It filed a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its stevia plant variety, called SW 227, which is confirmed to have a sweet leaf taste with low bitterness and aftertaste.
