The food manufacturing giant aims to combine its experience in development, production and commercialisation with Burcon Nutrascience Corporation’s proprietary plant protein extraction and purification technology. In addition, it will use Merit Functional Foods’ plant protein production capabilities.
Commenting on the partnership, Nestlé chief technology officer Stefan Palzer said: “Developing nutritious and great-tasting plant-based meat and dairy alternatives requires access to tasty, nutritious and sustainable raw materials as well as proprietary manufacturing technology.
Access to ingredients
“The partnership with Burcon and Merit will give us access to unique expertise and a new range of high-quality ingredients for plant-based food and beverages.”
Burcon and Merit’s work with Nestlé is intended to be a long-term relationship with an end goal to tailor the functionality of the producers’ plant-proteins – to be supplied from Merit’s production facility – for use by Nestlé in its plant-based meat and dairy alternatives.
Merit co-chief executive Ryan Bracken added: “Partnering with Nestlé – a global leader in food and nutrition – is a major milestone for Merit Functional Foods.
The value of plant-based
“Merit has already demonstrated the value of our novel proteins in plant-based foods. This new partnership helps build on this, and it’s a major step in developing the next generation of nutritious and delicious plant-based products that draw on the benefits of our novel proteins.”
The past month has seen a wave of vegan food and drink products launched, including the Rebel Whopper from Burger King and a vegan tuna hitting Tesco store shelves.
Meanwhile, Greggs’ new vegan steak bake and KFC’s first meat-free burger were just two of the latest plant-based launches in time for Veganuary 2020, featured in this photo gallery.
