In recent years, under the trend of health upgrading and consumption, fitness has flourished, and many fitness enthusiasts have developed a new habit of supplementing high protein. In fact, not only sports people need to supplement protein, protein is essential to maintain the normal physiological function of the body. Especially in the post-epidemic era, people’s demand for health, quality, and personalized nutrition is increasing day by day, and the demand for protein has increased significantly.
At the same time, with the increasing awareness of consumers on health, environmental issues, animal care and ethics, in addition to consuming protein from animal foods such as meat, milk and eggs, many consumers are beginning to prefer to choose Foods made from newer alternative proteins like plant protein.
Markets and Markets data also shows that the plant protein market has grown at a CAGR of 14.0% since 2019 and is expected to reach $40.6 billion by 2025. According to Mintel market data, 75% of protein demand is expected to be plant-based in 2027, and the global market demand for alternative proteins continues to rise.
In the “rising star” plant protein market, pea protein has become the focus of the industry, and major brands are exploring its potential, and its use is also expanding from animal feed to other categories, including plant-based, dairy products, soft drinks, Ready-to-eat meals, etc.
So, why has pea protein suddenly become the new darling of the market? What other brands have entered the market, and what innovative trends have they created? In this article, FDL’s data food proposition will be combined with the latest innovation cases to analyze and look forward to its future development prospects and directions.
As a new type of alternative protein product, as the name suggests, pea protein is a high-protein raw material isolated from pea (scientific name Pisum sativum), and is generally divided into two categories: pea protein isolate and pea protein concentrate.
In terms of nutritional value, studies have shown that compared with soy protein and animal protein, pea protein is richer in typical soy amino acids, vitamins and dietary fiber, and because it is free of lactose and cholesterol, low in calories, and free of genetic modification Doubt, the beany smell is relatively low, not easy to cause allergies, suitable for people with lactose intolerance, digestive disorders and people who advocate vegetarian food.
Pea protein can not only meet human demand for high-quality protein, but in traditional crop cultivation, the use of excessive nitrogen and chemical fertilizers will have many negative impacts on the water environment. Peas can convert nitrogen into chemical fertilizers by absorbing nitrogen from the air. To fix nitrogen, reduce the amount of nitrogen needed on the farm, keep the water environment clean, reduce carbon emissions, and be environmentally sustainable.
Especially in recent years, with the continuous improvement of people’s dietary concepts, the deepening of research on alternative proteins, and the increasing attention paid to the environment and sustainable development of green agriculture by various governments, the market demand for pea protein is continuing to grow.
According to market research firm Global Market Insights, the global pea protein market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 13.5% through 2023. According to Equinom, the global pea protein market is expected to reach USD 2.9 billion in 2027, and the market demand for yellow pea-based alternative proteins is expected to exceed supply. In the Chinese market, according to data from CBNData, the annual growth rate of pea protein in China is more than 25%, which is much higher than that of soybean protein, which has an annual growth rate of less than 10%.
At present, the pea protein market is spread over a number of well-known production suppliers and manufacturers from various regions of the world, such as the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
According to the incomplete statistics of FDL’s food proposition, the representatives of the world’s leading pea protein companies mainly include Cargill from the United States, Roquette from France (Beyond Meat’s largest pea protein supplier), Cosucra from Belgium, Cosucra from Belgium, rippleVestkorn Milling (a major European producer of raw peas and beans), Equinom Israel, and Axiom Foods, Inc., Kerry Inc., Roquette Freres, etc.
In recent years, more and more biotech start-ups are accelerating the extraction, development and application of pea protein and its nutritional components through modern bio-innovative technologies, and try to develop new raw materials with high nutritional value and attractive to the market. ,New product. These include Canadian plant-based company PIP International, Burcon NutraScience joint venture Merit Functional Foods, plant-based vegetarian company Simulate, plant-based dairy startup Tiptoh, pea protein producer Novo Farina, The Safe + Fair Food Company, MGP Ingredients , American infant nutrition company Nature’s One and other representative enterprises.
In China, although there are not many participants in the production of pea protein, there are also some outstanding players with solid strength. At present, it is mainly concentrated in Shandong, mainly including Shandong Shuangta Food, Yantai Youcheng Biotechnology, Yantai Oriental Protein, Shandong Yuwang, Shandong Jianyuan, Shandong Huatai Food, etc.
Among them, Shuangta Foods, which relies on Longkou fans to market, is one of the main suppliers of pea protein in the world. Its current annual production capacity is about 70,000 tons. Up to now, Shuangta Foods has cooperated with Beyond Meat, Cargill (Cagill), DuPont (DuPont) , Mars (Mars), Nestle (Nestle), Japan Sojitz, Unilever and other giants have reached cooperation agreements, and their pea protein production capacity accounts for about 40% of the global pea protein.
For thousands of years, traditional animal husbandry has continued to provide human beings with protein products. However, in modern society, people’s awareness of health and environmental protection is unprecedentedly high. More and more consumers have a deeper understanding of the connection between food choices and health and the environment, and begin to expand their health concerns from themselves to the whole world. Ecology, seeking to build a sustainable dynamic balance between people and the earth.
Under the consumption upgrade, companies from all over the world are using a variety of new technologies, new methods, or transformation or transformation to promote the “protein revolution”, and more and more consumers are getting protein. Meat is shifting to plant-based protein.
As more and more companies join this revolution, plant-based alternative proteins represented by peas have been applied more widely and deeper. We believe that this protein innovation revolution will become more and more exciting in the future.