ST. LOUIS — EverGrain Ingredients, an impact-driven ingredient company created by AB InBev, announced that its entire portfolio of upcycled barley protein and fiber ingredients has received the Upcycled Food Association’s (UFA) certification. The company upcycles spent barley from the beer brewing process into nutritious, sustainable proteins and fibers.
The Upcycled Certified mark, which UFA launched last year, will enable food and beverage manufacturers that use EverGrain’s ingredients to place the claim on its packaging.
“We started our journey in 2013, long before upcycling was a trend, with the goal of unlocking every grain of potential in our barley to have a positive impact on people and planet,” said Gregory Belt, CEO of EverGrain. “We are transforming spent barley — what we, at EverGrain, call ‘saved barley’ — into one of the world’s most sustainable, accessible, plentiful sources of plant-based protein and fiber.”
EverGrain is due to come online this summer with a scaled facility out of St. Louis, MO, producing EverPro, a soluble plant-based protein that is highly compatible with pea protein. The company is also exploring plant-based protein and fiber ingredients that can be used in meat alternatives, breads and pastas.
“As the world’s largest brewing company, AB InBev depends on high-quality barley from thriving communities and healthy ecosystems to brew our beers. Every year, 1.4 million metric tons are left over, or ‘spent’ through the brewing process,” said Ties Soeters, chief product owner at EverGrain. “Given the global scale, protein quality and market advantage, the team at EverGrain saw a unique opportunity to unleash the power of upcycled nutrition to meet the increasing global demand for plant-based products.”
This certification is well timed as consumers begin actively seeking products that carry the certification. Many people view purchasing products with the upcycled stamp as a way to make an impact on the planet with their dollars spent on food and beverages.
Take Two, an Upcycled Certified barley milk made from EverPro, is one such product available in market today. The UFA recently announced that demand for the certification has already exceeded original projections, and the 141 packaged goods and ingredients with this designation are now projected to prevent more than 703 million pounds of food waste annually.
