Partnering for success in a growing market

Whether for ethical, environmental or health reasons, many consumers are changing their eating habits and eating less meat, or in some cases, no meat. The flexitarian diet is gaining traction, with more consumers replacing some of the meat in their meals with new meat-alternatives, against a backdrop of increased interest in vegetarian and vegan foods. This shift brings both challenges and opportunities for food manufacturers in terms of sourcing ingredients, creating new concepts and innovating existing processes to scale-up production in this quick-moving market.

GEA prides itself in having a successful record spanning more than 25 years in offering technology solutions for the preparation, forming, coating, cooking and packaging of meat-analogue, meat-alternative and vegetable-based meal components, suitable for retail, foodservice as well as the quick-service-restaurant market. We are an experienced, global partner that customers can rely on.

We begin by getting a complete picture and understanding of what food manufacturers want to achieve. Once the product is defined, we work backwards starting with the desired end-result, then identify the right processes and equipment for creating a technology solution that is both optimized and capable of producing a consistent, a high-quality product.

Our expertise and leading technology portfolio give processors the flexibility to create meatless foods based on various sources, including:

• Frozen vegetables or vegetable-based mixes
• Texturized vegetable protein (TVP)
• Soya or wheat-based protein
• Single-cell protein (e.g., mycoprotein)
• Other plant-based protein