A New Wave Of Pea Protein

Data shows that U.S. consumers eat more than 200 pounds of beef, pork and chicken per capita per year, however, people are now gradually changing their diet and habits to find more alternative protein sources due to various health concerns, animal protection issues and environmental damage.

The global pea protein market is increasing in value every year and is expected to reach $3.6 billion by 2022.

According to statistics, strict vegetarians make up 6 percent of the U.S. population and with nearly one-third of Americans implementing meat-free days, 35 percent of respondents said they are increasing their intake of non-meat proteins. In this consumer environment, a variety of plant-based protein alternatives have emerged and are widely used in food and beverages such as energy bars, milk alternatives and burgers.

The production and application of pea protein has greatly enriched the source of protein in food, and in the past few years, the number of products containing pea protein has increased by nearly 200%, covering almost all food categories, from energy bars to bread are used. Bill Gilbert, Cargill's chief technologist, said the market for whole grain and dietary fiber-based bread is already quite saturated, and baking bread with pea protein as an ingredient may usher in new opportunities.

At the same time, pea protein does not contain cholesterol, animal fat, no animal farming brought about by the environmental burden, and even become Beyond Meat and other vegetarian burgers in the star ingredients, like ordinary burgers on the grill can also be "spewed gravy.

In addition, pea protein has also become a substitute for milk protein, there are now Ripple, Bolthouse Farms and other companies produce pea milk, and strive to replace lentil milk, milk, etc., in the protein drinks to occupy a place.

What are the advantages of pea protein?

Pea protein was not the first to gain widespread attention and use as an alternative vegetable protein source to animal protein. Accounting for $1.7 billion in global market value to date and continuing to grow at a rate of 10%, soy protein is by far the largest portion of vegetable protein and the preferred alternative protein source for many processing manufacturers.

1. Nutritional Properties

Since many people choose not to eat meat for religious, political, economic or health reasons, plant protein becomes a good nutritional alternative.

In terms of nutritional properties, pea protein has been shown to be beneficial to the human body in many important ways. Kristen Ciccolini, a vegetarian nutritionist from Boston, says that pea protein is easier to digest than the protein found in cow's milk and helps maintain blood sugar balance, making it a great choice for weight loss and appetite control.

2. Sustainable properties

From an environmental perspective, Dr. Chengci Chen, crop systems agronomist and crop leader at Montana State University's Eastern Agricultural Research Center, says that because peas and other legumes grow with bacteria in the soil, they absorb nitrogen from the air and soil and supply the plants as a natural fertilizer, and when peas are grown in rotation with grains such as wheat, the nitrogen produced by the peas keeps the soil healthy and reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied to the groundwater supply prior to application to wheat, thus actually improving the sustainability of large grain farms.

Soybeans and lentils, on the other hand, have recently encountered a major blow on this issue. In addition to the concerns associated with genetic modification, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found that soy has become one of the eight most common food allergens in the U.S. diet, and that soy contains isoflavones that are structurally similar to human androgens, which, although not confirmed by relevant studies, has created a number of concerns for consumers. At the peak of California's five-year drought period, lentil cultivation became the scapegoat for irrational water use in the state as the process required an average of more than a gallon of water to grow a single nut.

The unique nutritional properties and sustainability of pea protein may be able to be a major breakthrough in its advance.