NextFerm Technologies, a food technology company developing ProteVin, a vegan, non-GMO, yeast-based protein alternative, announced that it has successfully completed an industrial production pilot for ProteVin.
 
The successful pilot is the first of three milestones toward commercial production and the launch of ProteVin, which is planned in 2022, NextFerm Technologies said. The company must also get initial demand from the market and engagement with a first customer by the end of 2021, and enter into a production agreement with a subcontractor.
 
As part of the pilot, the industrial production of the protein was examined while preserving the same characteristics that were achieved in the laboratory scale. Analysis of the results by independent laboratories, an internal team of taste testers, and a potential customer demonstrated that ProteVin successfully achieved all of the pilot’s objectives.
 
“The successful industrial pilot of ProteVin marks an important achievement that brings us significantly closer to the planned commercial production and launch of ProteVin in 2022,” Boaz Noy, CEO of NextFerm, said. “The fast-growing alternative protein market is estimated at $13 billion, with an annual growth rate of 10%. The strong need for innovation by leading players in the food industry is for the protein itself, the raw material that is the foundation for all animal-derived food alternatives.  The successful pilot reflects the outstanding value proposition of ProteVin as an alternative to animal-derived protein, with neutral flavor, the most important parameter for food manufacturers. This makes it accessible to a wide array of products such as milk and dairy substitutes, meat substitutes, and additional categories such as infant nutrition, adult nutrition, and sports nutrition.”
 
“Furthermore, for the first time, we bring the market a vegan protein with nutritional value that is higher than other plant-based proteins and that is comparable to animal-derived proteins,” Noy continued. “The nutritional advantage of ProteVin over other sources of plant-based proteins can be seen in its amino acid profile, which provides more essential amino acids (EAA) and more branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and has better digestibility.”
 
Goy said that the company has recently begun sending commercial samples of ProteVin to potential customers worldwide, and have begun discussions with several subcontractors in order to launch the product in 2022.
 
The company reports that, to the best of its knowledge, there are no other protein alternatives on the market with the same nutritional value and amino acid composition as animal-derived protein which also have neutral taste and flavor with no aftertaste. ProteVin can currently be marketed in the U.S., Europe, and other countries.