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Food technology company Meala FoodTech, Ltd. has accelerated industrial production of its multifunctional texturising pea proteins, more than tripling manufacturing capacity across production hubs in France and Germany.
The industrial scale-up prepares the ingredient developer to meet growing commercial procurement orders from food manufacturers seeking to mitigate vulnerability to volatile egg prices, insulate operations against supply disruptions, and replace conventional textural additives such as hydrocolloids. The expanded European processing footprint generates sufficient output to replace roughly 1,400 tonnes of eggs in 2027, equivalent to substituting approximately 82,000 eggs per day.
The company has already achieved commercial retail placement across Europe, with its functional pea-derived texturisers formulated into consumer plant-based meat alternatives and bakery lines. The ingredient developer has also secured self-affirmed Generally Recognised as Safe (GRAS) regulatory status in the United States, supporting cross-border expansion into North American food manufacturing fixtures.
"Texture is central to the eating experience—it creates the bite, juiciness, and mouthfeel that make a food memorable and worth sharing," said Hadar Ekhoiz-Razmovich, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Meala.
"Manufacturers seek ingredients that deliver this experience alongside reliable performance, competitive costs, and a stable supply chain. Meala's texturising pea protein brings these benefits together, replacing eggs or hydrocolloids while supporting a shorter, more recognisable ingredient list. Our expanded manufacturing capacity enables us to support customers' new product launches and reach more applications and markets. The first plant-based meat alternatives featuring Meala's protein have already been successfully launched by customers and are now commercially available across Europe."
Commercial Distribution and Foodservice Partnerships
To scale industrial adoption across sweet and savoury food processing, Meala has established commercial routes to market through partnerships with international speciality ingredient leaders:
🌿 Vertis™ PB Pea: Distributed globally through DSM-Firmenich, AG, formulated specifically for savoury applications and meat alternatives to deliver structural binding and bite without chemical additives.
🥐 LASENOR VP-100: Marketed via bakery solutions specialist Lasenor Emul, S.L., engineered as a direct functional egg replacement system for industrial baked goods and morning pastries.
The ingredient labels simply as "pea protein" on finished packaging decks, providing an allergen-free, non-GMO alternative that preserves nutritional protein density while eliminating secondary gums, starches, and emulsifiers.
Formulation Economics and Operational Synergies
The expansion arrives as industrial bakeries and prepared food processors navigate recurring cost surges and supply volatility across avian-influenza-affected egg supply chains.
In technical application assessments within industrial sponge cake formulations, Meala recorded a reduction in recipe formulation costs exceeding 40% compared to conventional whole-egg control references. In typical bakery recipes, the ingredient functions at an inclusion level of just a few percentage points of the total formulation, delivering emulsification, crumb aeration, and moisture retention.
Furthermore, transitioning from pasteurised liquid whole egg to ambient shelf-stable dry pea protein eliminates refrigerated cold-chain storage and logistics costs, reducing inventory holding complexity and post-opening spoilage risks for manufacturing facilities.
"For innovation to translate into commercial adoption, it needs to work within manufacturers' recipes, processes, and economics," explained Dr Tali Feldman Sivan, PhD, co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Meala.
"In meat alternatives, our texturising protein provides binding and structure while replacing conventional texture additives. In bakery applications, it typically accounts for just a few percentages of the formulation, replacing egg functionality and enabling meaningful cost-in-use savings."
Life Cycle Assessment Metrics
Alongside ingredient cost predictability, the scale-up provides verifiable Scope 3 sustainability gains for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand owners evaluating environmental supply chains.
A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) conducted by Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, demonstrated that Meala's pea-derived texturising protein achieves:
Carbon Footprint Reduction: 63% lower carbon emissions per kilogram of protein compared with conventional egg powder.
Water Consumption Reduction: 96% lower water utilisation per kilogram of protein compared with poultry egg powder.
"The future of food formulation lies in making each ingredient deliver more," added Feldman Sivan. "Changing even one ingredient can affect texture, stability, and processing behaviour. Meala gives formulators a simpler starting point: one ingredient that delivers multiple texturising functions, reducing the need to rebuild recipes around complex combinations of substitutes. We help our customers meet sensory, processing, and cost requirements together, with a focus on consistent performance from lab and pilot trials to commercial products."
With industrial capacity operational across France and Germany, Meala FoodTech is accelerating pilot plant and factory trials across European and US food manufacturers, targeting commercial rollout across packaged bakery, ready meals, and alternative proteins heading into 2027.
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