Roquette has acquired a facility specialising in the extrusion of plant-based proteins. With this acquisition, the group says it wants to expand its range of premium textured plant-based ingredients for the global meat alternatives market.

Located in the Netherlands, the facility acquired from Texpall is said to benefit from unique expertise in the extrusion of plant-based proteins, especially pulse proteins.

Marion Garel, Global Product Line Manager at Roquette, said: “This extrusion unit will enable to expand different mixtures from plant-based raw materials to form different shapes and high-quality ingredients. This will create new opportunities for our customers.”

This new facility will, according to the company, reinforce Roquette’s position as a pioneer in specialty plant-based proteins for Food, Nutrition and Health markets, and will strengthen the group’s offering of NUTRALYS textured pea proteins, known as NUTRALYS T65M and NUTRALYS T70S as premium alternative solutions to soy and wheat-based ones in the meat substitute market.

This acquisition is said to be fully in-line with Roquette’s strategy to become the leading supplier of textured pulse proteins. Europe is the largest retail market globally for meat substitutes and a highly attractive sector, valued at €970M with an average 7% annual growth rate. This strong growth reflects consumers’ concerns for healthy and environment-friendly solutions, Roquette notes. In addition to vegans and vegetarians, this plant-based category addresses flexitarian consumers with dietary preferences for vegetable choices.

Pascal Leroy, Vice-President of Roquette’s Pea and New Protein business line, said: “This new asset is a great opportunity for Roquette to accelerate the development of its textured pulse proteins. It represents an important step forward in the implementation of our strategy in plant-based proteins to better adapt our offer to a booming plant-based food market. We are extremely confident in the innovation capabilities of this new facility and we look forward to working with the talented local teams to continue driving plant-based food innovation.”