The business’ patent-pending technology already replaces additives, modified starches and saturated fats with plant proteins and healthy lipids through thermo-mechanics.
“The food industry is still in the early stages of harnessing the full potential of plant-based ingredients and microorganisms to create more impactful foods,” says CEO and co-founder Marc Coloma.
“To date, the alternative protein sector has focused on enhancing the sustainability and nutritional value of plant-based meat substitutes,” he continues.
With the new tech, however, Heura is able to structure products, replacing low-nutrient dense ingredients, with plant proteins in new, previously unavailable, categories to “accelerate the protein transition”.
Lowering plant-based production cost
At the recent Future Food-Tech event in London, the business showcased three products where the new technology had been utilised: cold cuts, cheese and pasta.
“However, we’re expanding and going to file six more patents in the coming months that will help us to grow,” Coloma told FoodNavigator.
“While we’re expanding, we’re solving nutritional and quality problems with tech that leverages plant proteins to replace low-quality ingredients.”
The new tech being developed by Heura would also help to lower cost throughout the industry, claims Coloma, who says his business’ abilities to do this are consistently improving.
“The amazing thing about this industry is we’re developing new technologies and are able to improve the product and the cost,” he explains. “We’ve already reached parity and taste [in some products]. Our burger has become the number one plant-based burger in southern Europe.”
Heura’s plan to drive plant-based tech
Through “new science”, Heura was changing the physical and chemical properties of foods and better understanding the interactions between proteins and healthy lipids, gaining new functionalities along the way, he says.
Improvements in taste and texture were continually being made, with the micro-structure of products being Heura’s main focus to drive better sensory experiences and textures.
“The technology we’ve been using is fuelling our current lines, a lot of these are evolving and so is our business model,” says Coloma. “But we’re not keeping these technologies to ourselves, we’re starting to collaborate with food industry leaders, to license our technology so it can be used to formulate a new generation of high-value, high-taste nutritional products.”
A collaboration with the Flora Food Group was already agreed, with confidence it would help to fuel the next generation of food that was “linked to our mission to accelerate a protein transition”, adds Coloma.
“We want to open our technology to become a service to the development of plant-based products.”
