Market builds for canola protein

A number of projects are underway to use canola protein in exciting new food and feed ingredients, several of them involving Merit Functional Foods and supported by supercluster funding agency Protein Industries Canada (PIC). Merit’s plant-based food ingredient development, according to PIC, “represents a significant step forward not only in Canada’s intellectual property potential, but also the country’s ability to utilize its diverse crop selection in new ways that prioritize consumer health and taste.”

Indeed, research firm Reports And Data projects the annual compound growth rate for the global canola protein market to be 7.8 per cent, with a projected market value US$3.28 billion in 2027.

This is partly because, as noted by Transparency Market Research, canola protein contains all the amino acids required by the human body and is therefore a highly-valuable ‘complete’ protein source. Manufacturers of canola proteins therefore have lucrative opportunities, especially if they can emerge as market leaders now, as Merit is doing. At this point, states the research firm, “despite years of research on canola proteins,” and the “various procedures and technologies that have been developed…still, there are very few canola protein-incorporated products available in the market.”

Merit recognizes that previous attempts to extract protein from canola have resulted in dark and bitter products. However, its proprietary technology produces ‘clean’ protein ingredients with a neutral flavour profile as well as excellent solubility and stability over a range of pH levels. “Typically, there have been challenges with taste, texture and nutrition,” explains Tara Kozlowich, Merit Functional Foods vice president of marketing. “But now, with Merit’s proteins, the taste, texture and fortification limitations of plant-based products is no longer a concern.”

Merit products

Merit’s plant in Winnipeg is the first commercial facility in the world capable of producing food-grade canola proteins. It produces a variety of ingredients that can be included in beverages, yogurts, and meat and cheese substitutes. Among them are several Puratein ingredients. Puratein C is a highly-soluble ingredient with over 90 per cent protein and a high level of the amino acid cysteine. This makes it suitable for protein fortification purposes, as well as rounding out the amino acid profile in various products.

Puratein G has a savoury flavour with functional properties important to meat alternative formulations such as gelling, binding and emulsification. Puratein HS is a light colour powder with a mild flavour, exceptionally high purity level and over 90 per cent protein. It displays excellent solubility across the pH range, and possesses a very good foaming and whipping capacity that exceeds performance of egg albumen. It’s also high in cysteine.

In addition, Merit (with the support of PIC and in partnership with Pitura Seeds and Winning Combination) is using Burcon’s patented technology to create new food and beverages that feature blended non-GMO canola-yellow
pea protein called Peazazz and Peazac. In terms of volumes, Kozlowich says “we expect to process 25,000 tonnes of peas and/or non-GMO canola per year, with the flexibility to use either one. Our demand in 2022 and beyond is planned to exceed more than 100,000 tonnes per year.”

Working with Nestle, Burcon and Merit will tailor and produce their canola protein ingredients for use in a range of alternative products to meat and dairy. Merit also entered into a partnership with Bunge in 2020, where Bunge invested in Merit to allow both companies to mutually meet the growing demand for plant-based products.

In May 2021, Merit announced another project. Supported by PIC, Merit, TWC Nutrition, Daiya Foods and Grand River Foods will use Merit’s pea, canola and pea-canola blended protein ingredients in new plant-based foods and beverages.

Many other leading brands are using or plan to use Merit’s ingredients, but Merit is unable to share their names. “That said, we have upwards of 350-plus non-disclosure agreements ranging from small to larger consumer packaged goods companies that are finding great success in using our proteins,” says Kozlowich. “We are currently exporting proteins globally, as many game-changing brands are located not only in Canada but all across the world.”

She notes that opportunities are strong because consumers are looking for plant-based protein innovation in categories across the entire food and beverage spectrum, from ice cream and meat alternatives to bakery and beyond. “Innovation in the plant-based space is not isolated to any one category,” she says. “Rather, as consumers’ tastes and their protein expectations for plant-based applications rise, new ingredients such as canola protein are making products taste and function better with just as impressive nutritionals as their traditional counterparts.”

“We are excited for the future,” Kozlowich says. “Although we can’t get into specifics, there is so much opportunity in ‘plant based’ and we are so proud to be a part of this industry.”