Merit Functional Foods’ new pea and canola protein plant underway

Canada’s Merit Functional Foods has announced that its pea and canola protein production facility is well underway in Manitoba.

Covering 94,000ft², the firm explained that its new site achieved major project milestones with the superstructure assembled in May and the initial placement of equipment and enclosure is set to take place throughout this month.

Merit Functional Foods co-CEO Ryan Bracken said: “This facility is going to be key in redefining plant-based protein.

“It’s a flexible facility that will produce an unprecedented pea protein and the first canola protein available for use in foods and beverages. Both of these proteins will have functional and nutritional characteristics that will set them apart from other ingredients available on the market.”

The company further added that its facility is on track to be fully operational in the fourth quarter of this year.

Upon completion, Merit Functional Foods’ facility is said to become the first and only commercial plant in the region that can produce food-grade canola protein, which is expected to become a new entrant to the plant-based protein ingredient segment.

The company noted that its will source pea and canola will be sourced and grown in Western Canada, and processed and manufactured in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Over the next three years, Merit noted that it will create more than 175 new jobs for the community.

Bracken added: “We are proud Manitobans ourselves, and we’re honoured to support our local economy.

“We’re appreciative of the support we’ve already received from the provincial and federal government. We are excited about commercialising a state-of-the-art plant protein manufacturing facility in Canada and enabling value-adding of Canadian grown pulses and oilseeds.”

“We are already anticipating future demand, which will allow us to be agile by significantly increasing our capacity when the time is right. We know that our customers will rely on us for consistency in their supply chain as they scale up their production of plant-based foods.”