Kerry Group, an international food, ingredient, and agribusiness company headquartered in Ireland, recently announced that it has acquired the Spain-based Pevesa Biotech, a Spanish company specializing in non-allergenic and organic plant protein products, leveraging the company’s capacity to develop in the rapidly-growing organic plant protein market.
 
Pevesa Biotech is a prominent, global provider of non-allergenic, non-GMO plant proteins in the infant, general, and clinical nutrition markets. Pevesa offers a range of plant proteins, including organic pea protein, rice protein, and other protein hydrolysates.
 
Additionally, Pevesa has developed a range of organic and standard biofertilizers tailored for fruit, olive, and specialist garden growers. The company also focuses on sustainable food production, wellness, biowaste, and agricultural practices.
 
“Kerry is extremely pleased to bring the global expertise of Pevesa into our leading plant protein portfolio,” John Reilly, Kerry vice president of Kerry’s proteins business development, said. “Kerry was attracted to Pevesa because of its expertise, innovation, high-quality manufacturing leadership, and patented technology in the non-allergenic plant protein market. This will be a good fit with Kerry’s growing plant protein product portfolio, and Pevesa’s customers will benefit from the synergy between its market-leading technology and Kerry’s protein processing expertise.”
 
While natural and plant-based products have seen a burgeoning demand over the last few years, pea and rice protein products are now two of the fastest-growing plant protein market segments as consumers reduce their consumption of both dairy and soy proteins due either to allergies, or concerns about sustainability and animal welfare.
 
According to Kerry, the global plant proteins market is projected to grow at 6.6% annually for the next few years. In 2018, the organic rice protein market was estimated at $42 million, and the organic pea protein market was estimated at $11 million.