Protein Industries Canada to invest in collaborative R&D project

Protein Industries Canada, Roquette and Prairie Fava have agreed to invest in a collaborative research and development (R&D) project to help advance the country’s plant protein ecosystem.

The project will see a C$19.2m ($14.1m) investment between the three companies, which will work as a consortium to address nutrition and processing challenges for pea and fava on the Prairies.

The consortium will also focus on exploring the utility of blended pea-fava protein products.

Protein Industries Canada CEO Bill Greuel said: “This project will be key to furthering Canada’s position as a global leader in plant protein.

“It’s building on Canada’s strength in pulse crop production and will bring solutions to overcome specific challenges with processing in Canada. It’s also taking technology from a Canadian SME and applying that to large-scale projects to help create new ingredients and end-products.

“The work undertaken on this project will truly build capacity across our ecosystem and bring benefit to Canadians through a stronger and more robust agri-food processing industry, right here in Canada.”

The investment will be used for acquiring new technologies, including new processes to build capacity in Canada’s plant protein sector.

The research on the pea portion will begin with the evaluation of pea varieties in western Canada and their suitability for Roquette’s new plant while the fava portion of the research will primarily focus on optimising the dehulling and processing of fava beans by Prairie Fava.

Roquette Canada managing director Dominique Baumann said: “As a global leader in food, nutrition and health markets, Roquette has more than 40 years of experience in plant-protein research and development.

“This PIC investment provides us with an opportunity to collaborate with Prairie Fava on developing and strengthening the value-chain for pulse crops across the Canadian Prairies. Growers, livestock producers, food innovators and consumers will all see the benefits of this supercluster funding.”