PIP INTERNATIONALHAS CRACKED OPEN THE POTENTIAL OF PEA PROTEIN

In less than 12 months, Protein Isolate Plant (PIP) International has received $7 million in purchase orders as they transformed from a PowerPoint presentation into a fully commissioned $30 million pilot facility. Processing over 5,000 metric tons of yellow peas annually, PIP will initially produce approximately 1,000 metric tons of their great tasting Ultimate Pea Protein called UP.P™.

“We like to say that we’ve cracked the code with our pea protein and created something the world needs and at a price that is favorable to food manufacturers,” explains Christine Lewington, PIP’s CEO. “By pairing the great taste of our protein with an affordability advantage, we are on the leading edge and poised to revolutionize the plant-based food industry with what many are calling a 3rd generation, yellow pea protein isolate.”

To date, the Lethbridge, Alberta plant has seen support from the Canadian government, has attracted the attention of foreign governments, and has dozens of private food manufacturers now entered into or negotiating contracts to use PIP’s novel pea protein.

“Food producers use our protein as an ingredient. Currently we are assisting them to develop products and supporting them as they integrate it into their processing lines,” says Lewington. “They are ‘leveling up’ the taste, nutrition profiles and enjoyability of many of their plantbased alternatives. Many are starting by reformulating current on-shelf brands using our pea protein and some are to begin market testing very soon.”

Heavy construction on PIP’s larger facility is set to restart this year and will be located on 20 acres inside the city of Lethbridge. It’s expected the new facility will process approximately 126,000 tonnes of yellow peas annually, and support over $110 million per year in pea contracts for local and regional farmers.

The new $150 million processing facility is also expected to create 100 new jobs by early 2024. It will be the highest capacity plant of any pea processing facility in the world, all while offering a premium protein without the premium price.

The growing demand for a high-quality pea protein isolate has increased in recent years particularly given how popular plant-based diets are becoming, as well as increasing consumer awareness around the nutritional benefit pea protein offers, and PIP is well-positioned to be the industry leader in the plant-based protein industry.

“The demand for plant-based proteins is driven by three things: a healthier diet, a growing population, and a focus on sustainably produced food,” states Lewington.

PIP’s protein extraction process is novel from others and has embraced some key technologies from the pharmaceutical industry. Simply, PIP’s process separates the proteins gently without damaging their functional properties. This allows food developers to easily manipulate recipes and bind, gel, dissolve to recreate new great tasting plant-based alternatives.

“When we separate our proteins out of peas, they look similar to a ping pong ball,” Lewington explains. “Smooth, spherical and with a light uniform color. Other pea proteins look more like a smashed-up golf ball. That means every dent, scrape or stain reflects the damage to the taste, colour, and functionality. Our pea protein isolate delivers a near-natural state protein for companies to work with.”

PIP is receiving unprecedented results compared to anything developed in the plant-protein based market and is set to impact the supply of proteins globally. Consumers will soon have more great tasting, enjoyable options for their plantbase protein alternatives thanks to PIP.

Lewington says, “Our protein is 100 per cent soluble. It dissolves completely and it stays dissolved. That’s a unique benefit of our protein. And just for fun, and to learn more about our protein, we’ve made great tasting smooth ice cream and non-grainy cheese dip. This was easy because our protein isn’t grainy and offers an amazing final texture. We’ve figured out how to create the best tasting, most affordable, healthiest, and environmentally responsible pea protein isolate on the planet.” www.pip-international.com