The federal government will be investing up to $9.5 million in a new project from the Protein Industries Canada supercluster to commercialize new highly soluble, highly functional pea and canola protein isolates.
These novel isolates will eliminate the grittiness experienced with less soluble proteins and will improve the flavour profiles of plant-based products, including in plant-protein beverages and meat alternatives.
"This project is a great example of why the Innovation Superclusters Initiative was created," said Bill Greuel, CEO of Protein Industries Canada. "The consortium consists of businesses from across the value chain coming together to create new products not currently produced anywhere else in the world. This will increase the demand for and value of some of Western Canada's biggest agricultural commodities—peas and canola—and create new products to sell to customers across the globe."
Merit Functional Foods, Pitura Seeds, Winning Combination and the Manitoba Food Centre are collaborating to use patented technology from Burcon NutraScience to produce the new protein isolates with more than 90% purity.
The project is expected to increase the demand for and value of Canadian pea and canola crops, enabling farmers to sell more of their product.
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