Protein Industries Canada provides updates on two investments that show a lot of promise for canola. The Merit plant in Winnipeg will make food products that use canola proteins, and Botaneco has a new processing method that makes canola protein a better option for aquaculture.

Making Canola Protein a Common Ingredient

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Canola has the potential to be a leading source of plant protein in the Canadian food and feed industries – as long as the infrastructure and processing capabilities are in place to support its transition into new products. Protein Industries Canada’s members, along with other members of the canola sector, are working together daily to make that happen.

“It’s been incredible to be a part of the canola protein work our members have been accomplishing,” says Protein Industries Canada CEO Bill Greuel. “Not only are they and their partners finding innovative uses for a truly Canadian plant protein, but they’re also finding new, sometimes international, partners with which to market them. These are exactly the sort of collaborative success stories we hope to see our members achieve.”

Thanks to this work, new canola-protein products are making their way toward commercialization in both the food and feed markets.

Merit to diversify the canola consumer market

While canola meal has traditionally only been used in livestock feed, food processors throughout the country are finding innovative ways to get this high-protein commodity onto the tables of consumers around the world.
It’s not hard to see why. The vegan and flexitarian markets are expanding, which drives a demand for new plant-based protein products. Why, then, shouldn’t the canola sector attempt to take advantage of some of this opportunity?

Merit Functional Foods is doing particularly good work in this area. Together with Pitura Seeds and Winning Combination, and with a co-investment from Protein Industries Canada, Merit is using Burcon’s patented technology to create new food and beverages that feature canola protein.

As part of this co-investment project, Merit is constructing the first commercial facility in the world capable of producing food-grade canola proteins. The Winnipeg facility is expected to be complete in late 2020. Partnering Burcon’s technology with the new facility, Merit will process canola protein to use it in a novel pea-canola blend that looks and tastes great, and exceeds industry standards for purity, solubility and taste. With a protein content of more than 90 per cent, Merit’s canola protein extract has a nutritional value that meets or exceeds dairy or beef. The blend will then be processed into a variety of ingredients, which can be included in such items as beverages, yogurts, and meat and cheese substitutes.

The early development of these new ingredients is already leading to some exciting opportunities. In a joint agreement with Nestle, Burcon and Merit will be tailoring and producing their canola protein ingredients for use in a range of meat and dairy alternative products. Merit also recently announced a partnership with Bunge Limited, which will help accelerate the construction of Merit’s facility and ability to bring their canola protein products to market.

Botaneco establishing a new feed market

Livestock producers have long been incorporating canola meal into feed, but the aquaculture market presents a new opportunity for processors. And as a growing sector needing an additional 2.7 million tonnes of protein by 2025, it’s easy to see why the aquaculture sector is so appealing to companies developing new forms of feed.

Botaneco is one such company, in part because of a project they partnered on with Corteva Agriscience Canada and Rowland Farms. Recently, Botaneco announced successful trial results of canola protein concentrate as an ingredient in aquaculture feed. Tested in salmon at the Centre for Aquaculture Technologies in Prince Edward Island, the protein showed excellent feed acceptance, growth and weight gain.

The canola-based ingredient has a 75 per cent protein content, higher than many leading protein options currently available for the aquaculture market. Salmon also reacted well to the ingredient, showing full consumption and normal behaviour at all test levels. Despite this, canola hasn’t been used in aquaculture feed prior to this point due to current processing methods.

Botaneco is revolutionizing these methods through the creation of their new aqueous-based process, which was developed as part of a project by Botaneco, Corteva Agriscience Canada and Rowland Farms. The project, which received a 50 per cent co-investment from Protein Industries Canada in June 2019, is well on its way to commercialization.

“Successful completion of this growth trial is one of the key validation points we have now achieved, which is in addition to the advantage we have on scale, sustainability and intellectual property. Our proprietary oilseed manufacturing platform represents a generational opportunity to transform the processing of oilseeds, creating access to new world markets,” president and CEO of Botaneco James Szarko said in a news release announcing the trial results. “This milestone is a key step in advancing Botaneco toward commercialization.”

Clearly, canola protein is only on the brink of its potential. By working together, businesses passionate about canola can not only make this potential a reality, but also help change the way consumers around the world view this versatile crop.