FiE 2024 live: ICL Food Specialties unveils soy protein to “bridge taste, texture and price gaps”

ICL Food Specialties is presenting a textured soy protein that tackles sensory challenges facing the plant-based meat and seafood space at the ongoing trade show FiE in Frankfurt, Germany (November 19-21).

The ingredient solutions provider partnered with food tech start-up DAIZ Engineering to leverage its germination technology in the Rovitaris SprouTx product.

Food Ingredients First catches up with Karen Emerson, sales and business development manager, Alternative Proteins Europe at ICL, to understand the technology’s benefits and soy protein’s potential compared to other plant-based proteins.

“Traditionally, soy is a staple in plant-based diets, but there’s always been a taste and texture gap. It has hindered the consumer experience. We want the category to grow, so we need to bridge the gap,” Emerson tells us live from the show floor.

Achieving price parity with tech

Innovation and research in the plant-based protein industry are gaining steady ground, as is the rising global demand for sustainable food solutions.

With the protein space diversifying, F&B players are harnessing the potential of plant proteins such as fava beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils and more.

Emerson says there are plenty of benefits to soy protein versus other types of plant-based protein.

“Soy protein is extremely nutritious and highly functional. There’s a lot of supply, which makes it cost-effective. One of our challenges with plant-based meat alternatives is the price disparity between them and conventional meat products. We need to bridge that price gap as well.”

The company notes SprouTx’s “transformative potential” in resolving various issues facing F&B manufacturers, which is enabled by DAIZ’s technology. The collaboration is within ICL’s Planet Startup Hub, where the global player scans for tech that could “disrupt” the agri-food-tech space.

“Germination is the natural process of growing a plant seed into a seedling. It’s a completely normal process. The proprietary technology [used in SprouTx] controls the environmental conditions during that process. That impacts the taste and texture,” says Emerson.

ICL Food Specialties is presenting a textured soy protein at FiE 2024.“SprouTx will have a different amino acid profile compared to other textured soy proteins on the market, which means that there is less need for masking agents and less need for salt or flavor.”

“With DAIZ, we’ve launched multiple products: textured soy proteins and a soy and pea protein blend. We’re entering the European market with these.”

Tapping plant-based seafood

Emerson believes that, unlike the plant-based meat category, the plant-based seafood category has not hit saturation yet, as challenges remain to replicate the right texture and taste.

“A recent report by the Good Food Institute shows that plant-based seafood has grown by 10% between 2022 and 2023 in certain markets like Germany and the UK. That makes it the fastest-growing space in the plant-based sector, which is interesting. Although it’s from a small base, it has many of the same drivers that plant-based meat has, such as a focus on sustainability,” notes Emerson.

“Realistically, I believe there will be a plant-based alternative to everything. Many customers are looking for white space in terms of where to develop, and there are many different product categories in plant-based seafood where the market hasn’t been saturated yet. So it allows brands looking for range extensions to develop a new product into a new category.”

ICL plans to commercialize SprouTx for distribution in 2025, with end product possibilities “endless.”

“Just by the nature of a textured vegetable protein product, it can do anything from plant-based seafood — we have a great tuna alternative — to plant-based pork, beef and different sausages. We can already facilitate sampling and trials and plan to sell this in Q1 2025,” Emerson concludes.

With live reporting from Joshua Poole at FiE 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany