Plant proteins

Alcimed has supported a B2C industrial player specializing in infant nutrition in the identification and evaluation of technologies to ensure the food safety of plant protein isolates or concentrates, and to dissolve and stabilize them in a matrix with a view to the formulation of finished products.

Our team initially carried out a state of the art of the available technologies and their level of maturity via an in-depth investigation of the scientific literature and patent databases. We continued our investigation to analyze the technical feasibility of these processes within the framework of a production process for infant products.

This project enabled our client to select 2 promising technologies for the development of its infant formulations.

Our client, a leading industrial player in the alternative plant-based milks segment, asked our team to assess the level of risk on its activities following the entry into the competition of a new player in the field of plant-based alternatives to dairy products.

We conducted an in-depth investigation of the UHT ultrafiltered or sterilized plant-based milks market in several countries: France, Spain, Italy, and China. Understanding the dynamics of each market and the forces involved then enabled us to organize a wargame with our client’s teams to project competing strategies in each market and, ultimately, to build a strategy and a priority action plan for each team (marketing, sales, regulatory affairs, R&D, etc.) to be implemented over the next 6 months.

An international leader in the segment of enzymes for the agrifood industry asked our team to help develop its product offering for “plant substitutes to meat” applications (vegetable steaks, vegetable nuggets, etc.) and “plant-based milks” (soy milk, almond milk, etc.).

The first step of our project consisted in carrying out a field investigation aimed at understanding the needs and expectations of B2C players toward ingredient manufacturers for the years to come, thus allowing us to categorize avenues for new offers for our client into 4 main themes: improve the nutritional profile, improve taste & texture, offer “clean label” products, and optimize production costs.

We then transposed these needs into specifications for our client’s R&D team to plan the development of enzymatic solutions adapted to the challenges of current or future market players. Our team finally translated these specifications into a list of R&D projects, prioritized according to the capabilities and challenges of our client.

Alcimed has helped a major B2B player in the agrifood industry to build an exhaustive panorama of “proteins of the future” and their value chains in order to identify strategic avenues for development in this market. While our client was closely monitoring trends related to the boom in plant proteins, it wanted to have a long-term view on alternative protein sources – from plants, but also from insects, yeasts, bacteria, etc. – to identify opportunities for strategic development. Our project also aimed to understand the degree of integration of our client in these new value chains: buyer, producer, or strategic partner.

After having identified and evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of alternative protein sources considered to be promising in the long term, our team reconstituted the value chains (inputs, process, products, applications & markets) of around thirty proteins (plant proteins, insect proteins, proteins from animal by-products, and proteins from microorganisms and/or bioprocesses).

The results of our project have made it possible for us to define or to project our client’s position on these alternative protein sources so as to maintain a competitive advantage today and in the long term.

Alcimed worked with a global leader in pet care to delve into the alternative protein landscape in Asia, aiming to understand the ecosystem and pinpoint significant activity hotspots.

Across six Asia Pacific countries, we analyzed government policies and regulations, investigated the landscape of both emerging start-ups and established players, and explored innovation clusters within academic institutions, to provide a holistic view of the alternative proteins and fats landscape in Asia. With this thorough investigation, our team identified the strengths and expertise of different countries in Asia for different sources.

Our work supported our client in making a decision to enter into Asia Pacific and suggested viable entry routes to capitalize on the burgeoning opportunities identified.

Alcimed worked with a leading dairy company to provide inspiration on how to introduce alternative proteins into its product offering.

We examined the paths taken by several industry leaders in their transformation to introduce alternative protein, looking into their R&D and commercial partnerships, and the evolutions of their brand portfolios, positionings, and communications over time. The key success factors underlying these strategies, which drove the competitors’ successes, were then identified for our client’s consideration.

The work of our team provided insights for our client to fine-tune their existing alternative protein strategy through targeting the right capability building and marketing approaches.