Kerry, a taste and nutrition company, is expanding its nutritional plant protein range, which will broaden the company’s scope of proteins for food and beverages. Today’s consumers, who are more informed than ever, are amplifying the demand for tastier plant-based choices in various popular items, such as nutritional bars, yogurts, waters, juices and smoothies. According to the company, Kerry’s “revolutionary ingredients are well-positioned to lead the explosion in new and tasty plant-based alternatives.”

The company’s latest protein offerings are all plant-based and allergen-free, with organic options available. They are suitable for use in a wide variety of creative food and beverage applications, notes Kerry. Containing protein from the sources of pea, rice and sunflower, they address the mounting need for organic, vegan and traditional choices while at the same time offering solubility, dispersibility and a neutral taste.

“We recognize the rapidly growing demand for plant-based protein. More consumers adopt a ‘flexitarian’ diet for health and sustainability reasons and are delighted to bring our expanded plant protein range to market. By combining these new sources of plant protein with our processing technologies and flavor-masking capability, we have opened up many innovation opportunities for our customers,” explains John Reilly, Vice President Business Development, Proteins for Kerry Taste & Nutrition. 

“At Kerry, we keep a constant focus on developing new products and, for plant protein in particular, are now working on exciting applications in yogurt, ice cream bars and clear beverages, to name but a few,” he reveals. 

According to Fiona Sweeney, Strategic Marketing Director, Europe & Russia at Kerry, it is vital to understand consumer needs as this will impact how they perceive different products. “Offerings labeled as ‘plant-based’ will appeal to the larger flexitarian consumer base more than explicitly calling out vegan or vegetarian,” she explains to FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“While there is no set definition of plant-based products, it is understood by consumers to mean a diet consisting mostly of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, wholegrains and beans. It doesn’t necessarily exclude animal products and consumers that identify with eating a plant-based diet may fall anywher along the spectrum from a flexitarian to a vegan,” Sweeney continues. 

“When looking at the plant-based products currently on the market, we can see lots of opportunities to optimize in terms of shorter ingredient declarations, lower salt content and optimum protein quality. Many companies have turned to Kerry to assist with renovating their current product lines to ‘cleaner label’ products,” adds Sweeney.

The flexitarian consumer is the driving force plant-based food growth and the need to do better for people and the planet, she affirms.

“As we see it, the flexitarian consumer group holds the largest opportunity for growth. This consumer group eats both plant-based and animal-based products but has multi-layered and complex motivators. Motivations for adopting a flexitarian diet are the main things that we see differences between consumers, no matter what market they are in,” Sweeney details.

Innovation over the years has been focused on creating taste and texture to meet the expectations of meat-eaters, says Darren O’Sullivan, Director Plant-based Foods, Europe & Russia. “However, as consumers’ growing awareness of health and demand to know what is in their products accelerates, we expect there to be a big focus on renovating current products in the market to re-position as ‘clean label’ for 2020,” he flags. 

For F&B manufacturers seeking to develop protein-fortified products, Kerry has the technology – and now a greatly expanded range of plant proteins – to address any product-development challenges its customers may encounter, adds Mindy Leveille, Strategic Marketing Manager, Proteins, Kerry Tate & Nutrition.

The emerging plant-based food revolution
With the global population set to reach nine billion by the late 2030s, a consumer-driven shift toward plant protein-based foods and beverages has been in evidence for some time. 

Innova Market pegs the “The Plant-based Revolution” as the second most significant trend expected to influence NPD this year, fueled by growing consumer awareness of the impact of meat consumption on both personal and planetary health.

New launches with vegan claims have seen a substantial rise and are barreling toward the mainstream. Innova Market Insights notes a 23 percent annual growth of food and beverage launches tracked with vegan claims (Global, 2015 to 2019). Moreover, vegan food is becoming more significant, with more than one in four global consumers saying vegan alternative food launches are most sustainable (Innova Market Insights Survey Global, 2019).

As rising numbers of consumers take health matters into their own hands, F&B product developers have responded by increasing their efforts to elevate the taste and nutritional quality of plant-based offerings to the same level as their animal-based counterparts. One key strategy – introducing innovative plant-based extensions of recognized traditional products – is gaining speed as companies seek to capitalize on consumers’ willingness to try vegan variations of their favorite foods and beverages.

Meanwhile, Kerrys Radicle portfolio of integrated solutions is pegged by the company as “one stop shop” for plant-based development. With a growing number of formulators rushing to the burgeoning market of meat and dairy alternatives, the company partners with food companies to help deliver authentic taste and texture with clean and shorter labels. Recently, FoodIngredientsFirst spoke with Karen Emerson, Plant-based Project Manager at Kerry. The video interview can be viewed here. 
Except for soy – a “complete” protein that contains all essential amino acids – there has been one continuing challenge facing the plant protein marketplace: the lower nutritional quality of many plant proteins. It was to address this explicit need that Kerry developed its complementary pea, rice and sunflower combinations. 

Featuring optimized Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) up to 1.0 and rivaling dairy in terms of providing enhanced nutritional, functional and taste value – in applications that range from infant nutrition to seniors’ protein beverages to vegan applications – many of Kerry’s new proteins deliver clean taste and great texture in a “complete protein” profile.

Functional protein beverages; A major emerging market
Kerry’s recent research white paper report, entitled Unlocking the Power of Protein in Beverages, outlines the primary application of protein fortification in functional beverages. The report examines the growing functional beverage category within an US$850 billion global industry expected to exceed US$1 trillion by 2022. Over the last few years, and notably since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers’ mindsets have shifted to well-being as they embrace and explore the link between diet and health.

This shift in consumer attitude presents F&B manufacturers with a promising opportunity to tap into the “feel good” factor by providing the healthy protein options consumers desire, in both plant and dairy formats, and which can be used in many new foods and beverages – juices, waters, smoothies and coffees. According to the report, protein now represents 30 percent of all functional ingredients used in the beverage sector.

“With such changes underway, it’s nothing short of an exciting time to be in the fast-paced vegan and organic industry. With Kerry’s expansion of protein offerings, the needs of organic, vegan, allergen-free and traditional product manufacturers are squarely addressed – to the ultimate benefit of consumers,” Leveille concludes.