British cabbage farming entrepreneur builds sustainable brassica protein extraction facility

07-Mar-2023 - Last updated on 07-Mar-2023 at 09:31 GMT

The new facility will produce protein from cabbage

Naylor Nutrition, part of Naylor Farms, the coleslaw cabbage farm, has started the build of a €38m facility in Lincolnshire which will produce three brassica-based protein ingredients.

The new “eco-smart” plant, which will be seven-miles from its Lincolnshire farm, will allow for the “gentle extraction” of a cabbage functional protein gel which can be used in meat analogues and nutritional drinks, a cabbage fibre and an umami syrup which can be used as a replacement to soy sauce.

The site will also have the capability to produce protein from all brassica vegetables, not just cabbage, and there are future plans to incorporate other vegetables into its production.

Resilient

Planning permission for the development of the Naylor Nutrition site was granted last year and construction began in January 2023.

Naylor Nutrition highlighted the benefits of cabbage, which has been scientifically proven to be rich in vitamins and minerals such as vitamin, A, C, E, B2, B6, Omega 3, 6 and all nine of the essential amino acids. It also highlighted that cabbages are a resilient crop and can be grown on all types of soil all over the world. They have a high yield of 150-250 tonnes per HA, compared to circa four tonnes per HA for pea and soya, Naylor added.

Simon Naylor, founder of Naylor Nutrition and joint owner of Naylor Farms has worked alongside Dutch scientists to develop the cold-extraction process.

Sustainable

“Many of the current plant-based solutions to the problem of traditional mass agriculture claim to be sustainable, yet they travel thousands of miles before reaching their destination. We offer products with zero airmiles, making Naylor Nutrition’s brassica protein ingredients, truly sustainable,” he said,

“This new generation of plant-based protein must balance both nutritional content and agricultural sustainability, so that its production positively impacts on the environment.”

Gail Francis, director of Business Growth & Delivery UK & EU at Naylor Nutrition added:“What makes cabbage protein so exciting is how easily it is absorbed into our bodies. This is not the case for almost every plant-protein currently on the market as they are denatured and nutritionally ineffective in comparison to brassica (cabbage) protein. Our products support functionality in other products and superior nutrition for human beings.”