Plant-based protein firm Roquette has been booked to “significantly” increase the amount of pea protein it provides to expansion-hungry U.S. faux-meat processor Beyond Meat in the next three years.
Los Angeles-based Beyond Meat on Tuesday announced a “multi-year pea protein supply agreement” with France’s Roquette, renewing a “longstanding partnership” between the two firms.
No specifics were available on the amount of peas involved or the financial terms of the supply deal.
Beyond Meat, in its release, said the renewed agreement “significantly increases the amount of pea protein to be supplied by Roquette to Beyond Meat over the next three years as compared to the amount supplied in 2019.”
“This latest contract with Roquette reflects Beyond Meat’s commitment to further scaling the plant protein supply chain as global demand for our products continues to rise,” Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown said in the release.
Founded by Brown and partners in 2009, Beyond Meat has grown its public profile exponentially in the past couple of years, expanding its space on retail shelves as well as in the menus of major restaurant and fast-food chains including McDonald’s, Subway, Tim Hortons, KFC, A+W and TGI Friday’s, offering simulations of ground beef, sausage, meatballs and chicken.
Roquette has also expanded its space in the pea market in recent years, breaking ground in 2017 on a pea processing plant at Portage la Prairie, Man., where it expects to take in about 125,000 tonnes of peas annually from 2020 onward.
When it announced the Portage plant in early 2017, Roquette billed it as “the world’s largest dedicated to pea protein in the food, nutrition and health industry to date.”
“We are very pleased to continue supporting the growth of Beyond Meat, which shares our passion and values this long-term commitment,” Roquette CEO Jean-Marc Gilson said in the same release.
Along with pea protein, Beyond Meat products’ ingredients include mung bean and rice protein as well as coconut oil and cocoa butter for “marbling” and beets for a red beef-like colour in their uncooked form.
The company says it uses “a simple process of heating, cooling and pressure to create the fibrous texture of meat and layer in plant-based fats, binders, flavours and colours.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
Tagged Beyond Meat, pea protein, Peas, plant protein, plant-based, Portage la Prairie, Roquette