This January brings the launch of EverGrain, a sustainable ingredient company that is revolutionizing the use of barley to deliver highly nutritious, great tasting protein and fiber barley-based ingredients to the world. With a tenacious commitment to sustainability through circularity, the new company uses proprietary processes to realize the full potential of barley, and to deliver products that are better for people and better for the planet.
EverGrain utilizes saved grain from brewing and through its innovative processes, transforms the circularly sourced barley into nutrient-rich ingredients that can be used in a variety of food and beverage products. EverGrain is prepared to lead the industry in optimizing barley after five years of rigorous research and development.
“Our unique barley ingredients will transform plant-based products, delivering better tasting and more nutritious options to consumers who seek a healthier and more sustainable future,” said EverGrain Founder and Chief Executive Officer Greg Belt. “EverGrain’s innovative and circular approach, which we’ve honed over the past five years, offers a scalable, local and reliable solution for the global food industry to help address the world’s food security and sustainability challenges.”
Plant-based foods are one of the fastest growing categories in the global food industry, greatly outpacing other traditional categories. According to the HealthFocus International (HFI) 2019 Global Report, a quarter of global shoppers say plant-based foods and beverages have become more important in their diets and are willing pay a premium for plant-based products. Backed by the world’s leading brewer, EverGrain will support the growing demand from its commercial customers by providing a scalable, consistent, and stable supply of its ingredients – reaching businesses across the globe, with ingredients made locally.
“AB InBev is proud to support such a remarkable, purpose driven venture with a mission to create incredible ingredients to nourish the world through the transformative power of circularity,” said Tony Milikin, chief sustainability and procurement officer, Anheuser-Busch InBev. “EverGrain marks an important milestone in our ultimate goal of building a better world as we look to the next 100 years and beyond.”
By creating value in the circular economy, EverGrain seeks to partner with some of the world’s leading organizations as they turn to barley as an essential ingredient to elevate their products with more nutritional value for consumers around the world. Ultimately, these ingredients will also have a positive impact on social and environmental challenges like the goal of affordable, sustainable nutrition for the undernourished.
Customer Close-ups
“Plant-based proteins have been an important health trend for over a decade. But for many new consumers coming into these categories, their motivation is no longer just their personal health and wellbeing, but more broadly their environmental concerns and commitment to sustainable practices and companies,” notes Jeffrey Brams, general counsel and VP-R&D for Garden of Life, LLC. “EverGrain is an exciting and important step forward for the entire plant-based protein marketplace. As a ‘circular’ project, there’s no additional land or energy needed to grow EverGrain, and minimal water and energy are required to transform this nutritionally dense barley source into an exciting new plant protein.”
Offering more first-hand insight is Frederik Lievens, group products director at Puratos.
“At Puratos, our ambition is to accelerate the transformation of our industry. EverGrain’s barley offers a unique plant-based protein and fiber option that doesn’t require additional land, saves water, and lowers a product’s overall carbon footprint,” says Lievens. “At Puratos we are working with EverGrain to develop the ingredient technology that will allow bakeries to make great tasting, nutritious and sustainable breads featuring barley ingredients in line with consumer preferred texture and freshness expectations.”
Effective Ingredients
With this launch, EverGrain is commercializing its first generation of nutrient-rich, ancient-grain products to market, EverPro™ and EverVita™. Both product lines are highly versatile and can be used across a wide range of food products. EverPro™, a fully soluble protein isolate, is currently being formulated in multiple plant-based protein products, including beverages, protein bars and snacks. EverVita™, barley fibers and proteins with minimal starch, are being used as a single solution to boost the nutrition and gut health benefits of baked goods, pasta and snacks without impacting taste and texture.
EverGrain ingredients are currently available in products such as Take Two, a plant-based barley milk line. The company also has multiple product launches with commercial partners planned that will reach shelves in both the United States and Europe in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021.
About EverGrain Introduced in 2020, EverGrain is committed to realizing the untapped potential of barley. Our partnerships ensure we have access to a stable, global supply of nutrient-dense barley, and our innovative processes allow us to capture the full potential of this existing natural resource to fulfill our commitment to the planet’s health and longevity. EverGrain transforms barley into world-class protein and fiber ingredients to suit the needs of food and beverage brands throughout the world.
Our barley-based protein and fiber ingredients have the following benefits in these application categories:
• Bread: Increases specific volume and moistens crumb compared to whole meal flour; promotes superior machinability and consistency of dough; lowers net carbohydrates and predicted GI
• Cakes & Muffins: Higher specific volume than cakes fortified with wheat bran or wholemeal flour; water-binding properties to retain moisture during baking; lower in carbohydrates
• Cookies & Biscuits: Provides an appetizing golden-brown color that communicates a health halo; promotes crispiness and crunchiness with a light texture
• Pizza Crust: Improves on the whole-wheat pizza experience with strengthened mouthfeel; easy to integrate into formulations; delivers a signature, appetizing golden-brown crust
• Pasta & Noodles: Promotes “al dente” texture with great tensile strength and firmness performance; has ideal extrusion with no sticking together while drying or cooking; offers a more appetizing flavor than legume-based varieties
• Bars & Snacks: Has a clean taste with desired texture and chew and minimal moisture transfer; promotes a crisp and crunchy texture for extruded snacks, while enabling higher protein and fiber-fortified positioning
• Shakes & Smoothies: Improves mouthfeel of RTM protein powder with no chalkiness; offers high dispersibility for easier integration; extends shelf-life with no need for thickeners
• Plant-based Milks: Enables clean ingredient legends with impressive dispersibility; simple to blend with other plant-based proteins; enables a creamy, desirable texture that is comparable to dairy milk
• Coffee & Tea: Lowers viscosity an average of 40% for smoother mouthfeel; enables boosted protein content without relying on dairy; complementary brown color matches popular coffees and teas
About Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev is a publicly traded company (Euronext: ABI) based in Leuven, Belgium, with secondary listings on the Mexico (MEXBOL: ANB) and South Africa (JSE: ANH) stock exchanges and with American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUD). Our Dream is to bring people together for a better world. Beer, the original social network, has been bringing people together for thousands of years. We are committed to building great brands that stand the test of time and to brewing the best beers using the finest natural ingredients. Our diverse portfolio of well over 500 beer brands includes global brands Budweiser®, Corona® and Stella Artois®; multi-country brands Beck’s®, Hoegaarden®, Leffe® and Michelob Ultra®; and local champions such as Aguila®, Antarctica®, Bud Light®, Brahma®, Cass®, Castle®, Castle Lite®, Cristal®, Harbin®, Jupiler®, Modelo Especial®, Quilmes®, Victoria®, Sedrin®, and Skol®. Our brewing heritage dates back more than 600 years, spanning continents and generations. From our European roots at the Den Hoorn brewery in Leuven, Belgium. To the pioneering spirit of the Anheuser & Co brewery in St. Louis, US. To the creation of the Castle Brewery in South Africa during the Johannesburg gold rush. To Bohemia, the first brewery in Brazil. Geographically diversified with a balanced exposure to developed and developing markets, we leverage the collective strengths of approximately 170,000 employees based in nearly 50 countries worldwide. For 2019, AB InBev’s reported revenue was 52.3 billion USD (excluding JVs and associates).
