Summary:

Plant-based or non-dairy milk alternative is a fast growing segment in the food product category of functional and specialty beverage across the globe. The majority of these milk alternatives lack nutritional balance and acceptable taste when compared to bovine milk, however they contain functionally active components with health promoting properties which attracts health conscious consumers. One of the largest pea processing operations in the world is located in Canada and increased consumption of pea protein will provide economic advantages to this industry. Currently in the market, there are various plant based beverages such as soy, oats, rice, including beverages made with pea protein. The challenge with using pea protein in food applications deals primarily with typical beany flavours and solubility issues. Various technologies have been used to modify the functionality of the proteins and to improve these attributes. One of these modification techniques involves fermentation of the protein to enhance product functionality and taste. This project examines the use of fermentation technology to improve the pea protein quality by altering functional and palatability components such that it can successfully be used in a beverage application. Both nutritional analyses and lab enzymes digestibility studies will be conducted on the fermented protein to support the finished product ingredient content health claims. These fermented pea proteins will be formulated into a nutritionally balanced beverage and will be scaled up at the pilot plant stage before commercial production trials.