Cargill’s mission is to Nourish the world in a safe, responsible, sustainable way. The company contributes to global food and nutrition security by organising supply chains and moving a variety of raw materials, food ingredients and foods around the world, from places of surplus to places of deficit, including in protein crops and protein ingredients and products.
In Europe, Cargill continues to expand its business operations across the full spectrum of protein sources, animal, plant-based and alternative protein.
Global volume consumption of protein is expected to nearly double by 2050. Plant-based proteins, as a complement to animal protein, contribute to a diversification in available and scalable protein sources and will help fulfill growing consumers’ desire for more options as part of a balanced diet.
Cargill’s approach puts sustainability first across all its protein operations. Key sustainability programs in the conventional protein spaces include BeefUp and SeaFurther.
In Europe, Cargill already offers plant-proteins, like vital wheat gluten and hydrolysed wheat protein, derived from sustainably sourced wheat.
Additionally, Cargill is responding to consumers’ demand by adding pea protein to its ingredient portfolio. The move will help European food and beverage manufacturers meet increasing demand for nutritious, plant-based products.
Moreover, Cargill pea proteins are designed to meet the functional and sensory challenges in alternative emerging applications, complementing the company’s existing line-up of plant-based proteins. These ingredients, combined with the company’s extensive portfolio of plant-based texturizers, fats and oils, and sweeteners, offer brands the tools and technical expertise to create a new generation of trendy, tasty and nutritious plant-based foods.
More recently, in April 2021, Cargill announced an investment in the Dutch start-up Bflike to support a technology that creates plant-based meat and fish alternative products that are virtually indistinguishable from their animal-based counterparts, with similar visual appearance (both raw and cooked), texture, mouthfeel, melting behaviour and cooking performance.
The partnership combines Cargill’s extensive food ingredient solutions with Bflike’s recipes and technology, to give food manufacturers and retailers the opportunity to bring tasty plant-based products to market quickly and affordably.
