Canada: Pulse producers see new opportunities for pea protein

Demand for pea protein is growing by leaps and bounds but the overall volume consumed is still pretty small. Pea protein is finding its way into milk alternatives, bread, snack bars, yoghurt, meat substitutes, ice cream, cheese, breakfast cereals and other products. “The forecasted volume use of pea protein across all these uses is only 45,000 tonnes by 2025,” said Julianne Curran, vice-president of market innovation with Pulse Canada. By comparison, about 750,000 tonnes of soy protein concentrate will be used this year, primarily in meat alternative products. But with more pea fractionation plants opening across North America, there is a big opportunity to increase market share in the plant alternative sector. It is a similar situation with other pulse ingredients. An estimated 230,175 tonnes of pulse flour was used in American packaged food and pet food markets in 2020, which represents two percent of total flour use in that market. That pales in comparison to the 13 million ...