PLT Health Solutions announced today that the company and its manufacturing and technology partner Nutriati, LLC (Henrico, Va.) are introducing a new ingredient – based on Artesa® Chickpea technology – that will become the basis of next-generation meat analogue solutions in applications ranging from hamburgers, meatballs and pizza toppings to chicken, fish and pork products.
Artesa Textured Pulse Protein is a proprietary combination of Nutriati's Artesa Chickpea Flour and carefully sourced yellow pea protein that has been manufactured to tightly controlled final ingredient specifications. Artesa Textured Pulse Protein can offer product developers more reproducible results in meat analogues, as well as formulation predictability, cleaner labels and ultimately, a more “meat-like” experience than other textured vegetable protein (TVP) solutions.
Artesa Textured Pulse Protein features materials sourced in North America and is processed in the United States. Commercial quantities of the material are available immediately.
Devin Stagg, Chief Operating Officer at PLT Health Solutions, says Artesa Textured Pulse Protein was developed to meet next-generation needs of the burgeoning meat analogue market.
“The verdict is in on plant-based meats. Consumers want them and retailers want to offer them. Industry demand for ingredient solutions is growing exponentially,” he says. “At the same time, we're all trying to create a better 'meat replacement' experience. We want every consumer who tries a plant-based meat product to say 'yes' and come back for more. That's why go-to, comprehensive 2.0 ingredient solutions like Artesa Textured Pulse Protein are needed,"
Stagg adds, "Artesa Textured Pulse Protein is based on Nutriati's near decade of experience working in the plant-based space, focusing on delivering the best consumer experience: taste, texture, mouthfeel and more. It also responds to other consumer wants, like leaner, cleaner labels. With Artesa Textured Pulse Protein, plant-based meat producers can create great products without the need for wheat gluten, eggs or methylcellulose that are common in many formulations today. Beyond great labels, we think that producers will like the economics of Artesa Textured Pulse Protein as well.”
Combining Functional Pulse Ingredients
Artesa Chickpea Flour was introduced by Nutriati and PLT Health Solutions in 2018 as a replacement of wheat flour in the development of gluten-free products. Beyond having the best taste of any pulse flour ingredient, the unique manufacturing process of Artesa Chickpea Flour allowed it to enhance gluten-free formulations without the need for many common additional ingredients—such as starches and gums. Non-allergenic, Non-GMO Project® Verified Artesa Chickpea Flour has been used in conjunction with Nutriati's Artesa Chickpea Protein in many enhanced protein formulations to improve the quality, consistency and taste of the formulation – and gave Nutriati extensive experience in formulating with proteins to achieve desired effects.
Artesa Textured Pulse Protein combines carefully sourced yellow pea protein with Artesa Chickpea Flour via a proprietary manufacturing process to create this next-generation textured vegetable protein (TVP). Often, agricultural raw materials have a great deal of compositional variability depending on their origin location and the manner of growing. Nutriati has developed pulse suppliers and a manufacturing process that delivers a tight specification for physical attributes, functionality and organoleptic attributes with their product. This lends to reliable performance in finished product quality and predictable and consistent manufacturing processes, key elements in improving the customer experience.
Artesa Textured Pulse Protein can be used as a stand-alone ingredient in many meat analogue applications – delivering better performance and consumer-friendly characteristics than either textured pea protein or textured soy protein.
The functionality of Artesa Textured Pulse Protein also powers the development of plant-based meat products without the need for other texturizers, binders or emulsifiers, allowing the elimination of ingredients like egg whites, wheat gluten and methylcellulose. The resulting products can be considered healthier and will have more consumer-friendly labels. Several plant-based meat applications feature a combination of Artesa Textured Pulse Protein and Artesa Chickpea Flour.
According to Michael Spinelli, founder and chief innovation officer at Nutriati, a key element for success with Artesa Textured Pulse Protein is the company's culinary food science team's formulation and its manufacturing knowledge and capabilities within the category of plant-based.
"Artesa Textured Pulse Protein is the result of several years of research and development by Nutriati's Culinary Team working with plant-based meat producers creating comprehensive solutions to improve manufacturability and finished product quality,” he says. “In a number of cases, we have been able to improve existing formulations and nutrient content while removing ingredients and cleaning up labels. Our formulation and manufacturing expertise is an important part of our teams' ability to deliver unique Textured Protein Solutions to the market.”
