Peas, the next superfood?

General Mills is looking for the next popular food ingredientin the past only marginalized weirdos would care about things like glutenfood technician Fess
.

Perry
busy mixing the ingredients for a
new
L'rabar energy bar. In a row of tins against the wall, there are a variety of thought-out snack-making ingredients, including oatmeal and marshmallows, and this time the label of the new energy bar has been
ALT
, or alternative protein, a new label for thousands of years, and it's peas. Perry added a certain amount of yellow pea powder to the ingredients made up of nuts, dates and brown rice paste, a new formula that General Mills food scientists have spent two years developing."
we tried a variety of samples.
,"
Perry said as he tiled the mixed ingredients in a metal plate. Protein bonding together will become harder, which can affect the texture and shelf life of food, and
"
how to keep proteins in simple form is a challenge. We chose peas because they don't cause allergies and don't have much effect on taste.
,"
said.For more thanyears, the $
,
trillion food industry has been trying to find new ways to sell sugar, salt and fat, and now it's starting to create products that contain new proteins to win over health-focused consumers.Early detection of food trends can bring great economic benefits. Sales of many antioxidant-rich foods, such as pomegranates and Brazilian berries, rose three times as much as across the food industry.
Probiotic yogurt, which contains digestive microbes, has become a supermarket food with annual global sales of $
30 billion
, according to
, a Euromonitor International consultancy, and will grow
50 percent to
$
45 billion by 2
018
In addition, annual sales of gluten-free foods now range from $
550
billion to $
105 billion, according to
research institutions.
"
increase in sales of certain foods is usually achieved early.
"
Analyst Chris
,
Mintel,
.


tends to move to big companies, and market trends are starting to weaken and margins are starting to fall, " says chris Brockman
, a professor at the University of York.
”That's why food companies are eager to find the next hot source of protein that can be added to new or extended products. General Mills is looking at something that seems impossible: beans, including beans such as dried peas, lentils and lentils.this new ingredient provides enough protein and does not contain the fats and cholesterol associated with animal products, wearing a halo of healthy foods.beans
, which used to be sold only in the Health Food District, have been on the ingredients list of some mainstream food brands, including Newman's
's Pepper and Salt Rolls and Barilla's

pasta, Post

's cereal breakfast, and even
Triscuit
cookies from Mondelēz
International
. The trend is only just beginning.
"
Americans swallow a lot of protein every day, as if the end of the world is coming,
"
Chicago food research company
Corvus Blue
," said Canta

"
protein is the new popular
food ingredient, "
said
Kantha Shelke, a professor at the University of York.
” Food companies like beans because of their diversity. Beans come in different colors and sizes, can be whole food, can also be ground into flour, or broken down into three main components: protein, fiber and starch. Beans contain more protein and fiber than wheat and rice, as well as
B
vitamins, iron and zinc. helps control blood pressure. Beans are also considered more environmentally friendly, delivering nitrogen to the soil when they grow, reducing the need for fertilizers, and the land and water needed is only a small fraction of animal protein. , like many popular food ingredients, the supply of legume protein is tight. Only a handful of companies around the world currently have equipment and technology to process pea protein concentrates and protein powders in bulk. Henk, an industry consultant,
.
henk Hoogenkamp

, said the market was so tight last year that prices soared to meet customers' ordering requirements. "10 years
no one cared about beans.
," said Gordon
, chief executive of Pulse Canada
.
Said
Bacon,
Bacon.
Canada is
trade association representing Canadian legume growing companies and processors. Canada is the world's largest exporter of legumes.
"
is now very hot in the beans market. We made food companies aware of a new food ingredient as old as time.
” Beans are not perfect -
protein
make food feel hard. Scientists at General Mills have found that
ALT L'rabar
energy rods have a shelf life of two months shorter than regular
L
rabar energy rods. It is not always easy to digest beans, which can sometimes cause discomfort and flatulence.
"
for some people, the bacteria in their bodies are not suitable for digesting these beans.
"
, director of the Richard Center for Functional Food and Nutritional Food research at the University of Manitoba in
.
'
Peter Jones
said. at General Mills in New World have screened six alternatives to soybeans and dairy products, selecting yellow peas because they do not involve allergens and genetically modified ingredients, which worry many consumers. company's
Lärabar
range is aimed at consumers who don't eat gluten and dairy products, especially three-quarters of adults who want to increase their protein intake but don't want to eat more red meat. These adults worry that eating red meat may cause arteries to clog. The number of this group is increasing.
series of
products is part of
growing
"
without
"
of food. Sales of such foods reached $
96
billion last year and will rise to $
12.4 billion by
2018, according to
Euromoni
. General Mills has produced products that meet this consumer base, and



cereals in January.
"
past, only marginalised weirdo would care about gluten or something like that,
said Heather
, an analyst at BB-T Capital Markets
.
,
Jones said,
"
'
mainstream people are more concerned about these issues."
” The food giant is not the only participant in the search for new sources of protein. Bill
.
Gates, Li Ka-shing and Tom
.
is funding a San Francisco start-up
Hampton Creek
to produce mayonnaise with yellow pea protein instead of eggs. The mayonna
ise is being sold in some stores at Whole Foods
,
Safeway

and Costco .
Protein Bar
, a fast-food casual restaurant chain that serves organic quinoa
bar-itos
recently received an investment from private equity firm
Catterton Partners
. The company also funds
kettle Foods
and coffee chain
Caribou Coffee
products.
April
, grain food maker Baoshi Holdings also paid $
2.45
billion for food processor Michael Foods

. Because it recognized
the potential of peas early on, General Mills, which owns brands such as Betty Crocker
, bought large quantities of peas from suppliers such as Canada's
Alliance Grain Traders
, resulting in a shortage of raw materials that competitors had to cope with. France
Roquette
, a pea food raw materials company, has doubled its capacity and is working with farmers in the Paris suburbs to increase their production. Chinese suppliers have also provided some supply, but North American food companies are reluctant to buy from them because of food safety concerns, Mr. Hegankap said. may

last year, General Mills introduced
6
flavors of
ALT
foods, such as lemon pound cakes, which are now selling more than expected. In

, the company's
Cascadian Farm
launched its own pea protein energy bar. Although General Mills would not say what the company's future new products are, the next possible launch will be beans for breakfast. food companies are also experimenting with lesser-known ingredients
-
such as marijuana, quinoa or chia seeds.
"
we can adjust the nutritional content of many products,
" Alliance Grain Traders
CEO Murad
.

"
but consumers don't accept replacement ingredients just for health, they have to meet taste needs,' said murad Al Khatib
.
” Alliance
a research and development center in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is constantly introducing new products to stimulate market consumption. One morning the other day, staff at the research and development center were tasting some food, including bread, pasta, snacks, pound cakes and some marble-patterned meatballs. Some foods use traditional ingredients, while others use
V-6000
made
by
Allenance. Pasta produced in the new formula tastes similar to traditional pasta. Bread and pound cakes are also up to standard, and cost less than products made from wheat and eggs. But the new meatballs are
16%
lower than traditional meatballs, and there are no breadstrums, they're a little dry to eat, and the aftertaste is a little weird, and the taste of
"
meatballs is a bit of a problem.
"
, director of research and development at General Mills, said
.
'
Tulbek < b