Dive Brief:
- Roquette will invest more than $303 million to build a pea protein manufacturing site in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, giving the company plants in both Europe and Canada, according to Food Business News. It already has a site in France.
- The new facility will be able to process more than 120,000 tons of pea protein per year, which will help the company become the largest manufacturer of pea products in the world.
- Canada produces approximately 30% of the total global production of peas.
Dive Insight:
With the $303 million investment into pea protein manufacturing, Roquette feels this a category that’s ripe for growth.
That’s a belief that’s been out there for a while, though. Four years ago, Food Navigator reported the category was exploding, but that hasn’t really happened yet.
In the U.S., pea proteins are normally used more to complement other protein ingredients. By themselves, they haven’t caught on much yet. Europe and Canada are seeing more interest in the product, which is mostly used as an organic powder in items such as Dutch chocolate and vanilla toffee powder.
Nutritionists have championed plant proteins over the last couple of years, so it isn't a surprise to see items in the vegetarian, sports and slimming, senior nutrition and clinical nutrition food spaces start to carry the ingredient. Roquette itself has said that snacks, nutrition bars, pasta, meat substitutes and sports nutrition products are all potential applications.