USA News Group – The world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products to retail and food-services companies, McCain Foods, just announced it’s investing $55 million into Irish, plant-based start-up Strong Roots. The move signals another major food entity entering the race for plant-based burgers and other plant-based “meats” , in what’s being projected by Bloomberg Intelligence to be a $162 billion market by 2030. Competition in the field is getting fierce, as new non-beef faux-meat products are being researched such as burgers made from maggots and mealworms, and established industry player Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND), just poached two meat industry veterans from Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN). Other alternative protein producers that are launching facilities and products include Nepra Foods (CSE:NPRA) (OTC:NPRFF), ICL Specialty Products of the ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL), and even Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD).
Coming fresh off of a very successful oversubscribed IPO, Nepra Foods (CSE:NPRA) (OTC:NPRFF) recently saw its revenues increase 242% year over year, and is projecting further growth potential on the horizon for its allergen-free high protein N-50 hemp flour and its ready-to-eat PROPASTATM line.
"We are very pleased to see our third-quarter results reflected in our commitment to expanding Nepra's best-in-class product offerings to the burgeoning plant-based and allergen-free food markets,” said Nepra CEO David Wood. “As the plant-based market forecast continues to trend upwards, our supply pipeline is strong and positioned for further significant growth by providing the right ingredients in this opportune moment. As a result, our future order book growth is accelerating."
Among the drivers of Nepra’s new products has been the rising development of new ingredients, which saw their production output increase over 400% in 2021. Thanks to plenty of valuable R&D work, Nepra’s already produced a wide array of proprietary hemp-base proteins, that are included in their current consumer marketed plant-based meats, dairy alternatives, and baked snacks, and are also sold as B2B ingredients.
Moving forwards as part of its phased growth strategy, Nepra signed a 10-year lease on a new 31,000 square foot facility, with major construction underway to increase manufacturing output and expedite the development of innovative new products.
One of Nepra’s newest products for the PROPASTATM line is the Spaghetti and Meatballs product. The product’s meatballs are a beef analogue made from Nepra Foods’ proprietary Textured Hemp Proteins (THP)TM, while the high-protein pasta noodles also use hemp flour as the base.
“This past quarter does not yet include revenue contribution for our soon-to-be-launched consumer products goods division,” added Wood. “Further, led by PROPASTA™, we expect to add new product categories and customers across our multiproduct and multi-vertical divisions in the next several fiscal quarters.”
Making moves to further solidify its presence in the faux-meat scene is industry giant Beyond Meat, that recently reported its net revenues increased 13% year-over-year, and international net revenues increased 143% year-over-year.
However, its latest move involved bringing on two protein industry veterans into top executive roles as the company accelerates its global growth strategy. The new additions are Doug Ramsey as Chief Operating Officer, and Bernie Adcock as Chief Supply Chain Officer, both of which come over from Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN).
“Doug and Bernie bring a proven track record of impressive operational excellence in the protein industry that our global partners, customers, and consumers expect and deserve,” said Ethan Brown, Founder and CEO, Beyond Meat. “As we’ve made clear, we are investing today in tomorrow’s growth, whether by adding to our best-in-class management team or by building out operations around the world, to advance our vision of being the global protein company of the future.”
Meanwhile, Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) isn’t going to let the remainder of its employees think they’re not appreciated, as the company just announced it plans to give frontline, hourly team members approximately $50 million in year-end bonuses.
“This is yet another way for us to say thank you and show how grateful we are for our frontline teams’ efforts to keep each other safe, our company strong and our world fed over the past year,” said Donnie King, President and CEO of Tyson Foods. “While 2021 presented many challenges, our entire Tyson team continued to meet them, head on.”
While plant proteins weren’t explicitly mentioned in the company’s Q4 2021 financial results, it’s known in the industry that Tyson was an early investor in Beyond Meat, and that the ood giant would go on to bolster its Raised & Rooted product line, and introduce its first plant-based burger back in May of 2021.
Israel-based ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) recently opened its new $18 million plant-based protein facility in St Louis, that purports to make “food of the future”. Under its ICL Specialty Foods subsidiary, the company will make plant-based alternative protein products with peas from Canada at the facility.
ICL’s foray into the plant-protein space includes a 10,000-square-foot expansion of its already established operations, which makes various products that go into consumer goods. The company will now also produce a plant-based meat substitute for food companies, distributors, restaurants and grocery chains. The facility is expected to make more than 15 million pounds of product annually at full capacity, which officials believe they can reach within two years.
Also in St Louis, beermakers Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD) are investing in the plant-protein business, by building a $100 million plant for its EverGrain company, which turns the remnants of barley from brewing into protein and fiber supplements in order to repurpose the protein for enhanced bread, pasta, and milk products.
“Up until a few years ago, what we did was take this barley malt, ferment, and produce beer. In the fermentation process, the yeast takes all the starch or the carbohydrates from the barley and leaves the grain that is very rich in protein and fibers,” said Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris. “Through technology, especially biotech technology, we were able to do a separation with the fiber and the protein, and now we have an amazing amount of protein — that is very high-quality protein without any carbohydrates — that we can sell.”
As of last year, EverGrain only operated a relatively small $15 million facility in New Jersey. Now the company has already begun to “commercialize the product,” with plans to take the protein to large companies in the U.S. and Europe.
Article Source: https://usanewsgroup.com/2021/09/05/the-plant-based-food-revolution-is-here/
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