Wide Open Agriculture in plant-based meat and egg push made from lupins
Listed food company Wide Open Agriculture hopes to have lupin-based meat, eggs and milk products in commercial production within two years.
BREAKFAST may soon be bacon and eggs with a glass of milk, all made from lupins.
A listed West Australian company hopes to have egg, milk and meat alternatives made with lupin protein on dinner tables within two years.
For the past year, Wide Open Agriculture has been working towards development of the food products from lupin protein, using extraction technology developed by Curtin University in its WA laboratories.
WOA managing director Ben Cole said the technology extracted the protein “into a 3-D matrix”.
“In one form, it can gel,” Dr Cole said.
“Gelling is an important property for things like egg replicas.
“So we are looking at plant-based egg substitutes because it can go into that gel form.”
The process also produces protein in a soluble form.
One of WOA’s other products it plans to have on supermarket shelves in October is an oat-based milk.
“So we think the lupin protein could give a protein ‘bump’ in the oat milk, making it a high-protein drink,” Dr Cole said.
WOA was working on producing plant-based meat and gluten-free flours from lupin protein as well.
The company also produced sheep meat and beef from animals produced under its philosophy of “regenerative” farming principles.
Dr Cole said regenerative agriculture involved farming systems which continuously improved soil health — especially when sequestering carbon into the soil — biodiversity and the water cycle on farms.
He said there was a lot of interest in food produced from regenerative farms, not only from vegetarians, but also consumers who wanted meat that “saves the world, not destroys it”.
WOA has sourced 200kg of lupins from a WA farmer committed to regenerative farming.
Dr Cole said the lupins would go to CSIRO’s Food Innovation Centre, which was developing a pilot scale extraction plant.
“The next step is commercial scale,” he said.
The company had engaged food and beverage industry specialist, Process Partners, to work out ways and costings to take products to commercial production.
Dr Cole said the company could build a food processing plant in WA and run it themselves or enter into a joint venture with a partner.
MORE
Mice inflict grain pain
A mice outbreak is causing havoc across summer cropping areas. Here’s what’s being affected.
Saudi Arabia a barley saviour
After losing China as a market, a large volume of Australian barley has found a home.