American ingredients producer Kemin Industries has acquired Massachusetts-based food technology company Proteus Industries.

The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Kemin Food Technologies Americas president Marc Scantlin said: “Kemin Food Technologies is excited to welcome Proteus to the Kemin family.

“We have retained the entire Proteus team, with Bill Fielding, current Proteus CEO, being named as general business manager, and Dr Stephen Kelleher being named research fellow. We look forward to Bill, Steve and the entire Proteus team of experts becoming an integral part of our organisation.

“Together, we will work to further develop this exciting technology, providing a sustainable protein source and new solution for our customers while meeting an important need in the marketplace.”

Established in 2001, Proteus Industries has developed clean-label protein ingredients to improve yield, nutrition and quality of meat and poultry and protein-based applications.

The deal adds many new technologies to Kemin‘s existing ingredient solutions portfolio including clean label phosphate alternatives, meat block replacements, and fat blocks for fried foods.

Kemin will rebrand the ingredient technology as Proteus.

Proteus is being made available to commercial food processors to help improve the retention of moisture and texture without reliance on artificial ingredients.

The deal will enable manufacturers to meet the label claims and product attributes that consumers seek.

Kemin Food and Human Nutrition Group president Giuseppe Abrate said: “This acquisition is timely, as this technology allows us to provide the industry with additional product offerings and expanded production capabilities.

“It is also a game-changer, as it enables us to achieve the Kemin mission to sustainably transform the quality of life for consumers. This is critical as the growing world population continues to increase the demand for our food supplies.

“Consumers are also demanding improved nutrition and cleaner label ingredients. One of the larger challenges facing the industry today is how to meet the rising demand for protein, better nutrition and cleaner labels, without negatively impacting cost or quality.”

In July 2020, Kemin Industries unveiled architectural renderings for its new quality control laboratory (QC lab) in the US.