NextFerm one step closer to industrial-scale production of new vegan protein

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NextFerm Industries (Yokneam Illit, Israel) has announced that it has successfully completed an industrial production pilot for ProteVin, a vegan, non-GMO, yeast-based protein alternative. This marks the first of three milestones toward commercial production and launch of the ingredient, which is planned for 2022. The two additional milestones are generating initial demand from the market and engagement with the first customer by the end of 2021, and then entering into a production agreement with a subcontractor

As part of the pilot, carried out in production facilities in the U.S., the industrial production of ProteVin was examined while preserving the same characteristics that were achieved in the laboratory scale. During the pilot, the ingredient had to meet three objectives. First, independent laboratory analysis found that ProteVin met all parameters that define the product, including concentration of protein, composition of amino acids, digestibility, light color, no contaminants or allergens, and compliance with food regulations and other quality parameters.

Then, it had to meet compliance with taste, flavor, and odor requirements, namely achieving a neutral taste, flavor, and odor without the typical aftertaste or odor of various types of plant-base proteins. Finally, NextFerm needed to produce enough quantity of the protein to supply samples in the amounts required for approval by potential customers.

“The successful industrial pilot of ProteVin marks an important achievement that brings us significantly closer to the planned commercial production and launch of ProteVin in 2022. The fast-growing alternative protein market is estimated at $13 billion, with an annual growth rate of 10%. The successful pilot reflects the outstanding value proposition of ProteVin as an alternative to animal-derived protein, with neutral flavor, the most important parameter for food manufacturers. This makes it accessible to a wide array of products such as milk and dairy substitutes, meat substitutes and additional categories such as infant nutrition, adult nutrition, and sports nutrition,” said Boaz Noy, CEO of NextFerm, in a press release.

“Furthermore, for the first time, we bring the market a vegan protein with nutritional value that is higher than other plant-based proteins and that is comparable to animal-derived proteins,” Noy continued. “The nutritional advantage of ProteVin over other sources of plant-based proteins can be seen in its amino acid profile, which provides more essential amino acids (EAA) and more branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and has better digestibility. We have recently begun sending commercial samples of ProteVin™ to potential customers worldwide. On the production side, we are in discussions with several potential subcontractors, in order to launch the product in 2022, as planned, and look forward to update our investors on our progress.”