Meurens Natural, a Belgian company specialized in clean label extracts made from oat and other cereals, offers organic ingredients for plant-based products and therefore has developed a range of high protein brands.
Tim Van de Gehuchte, International Sales & Marketing Manager at Meurens Natural, talks about possible applications and how they contribute to a healthy and sustainable way of life.
Who is Meurens Natural, and what does the company stand for?
Meurens Natural is a family-owned Belgian company that processes cereals and dried fruits into organic and natural ingredients for the food processing sector. Meurens Natural has been a pioneer in the organic sector with the Sipal® brand, for over 30 years. Throughout the years, we have developed a unique production know-how that is 100% in line with organic philosophy. We are the European specialist in cereal hydrolysis due to the uniqueness of our production process and the variety of raw materials that can be processed. We were the first to produce oat syrups that can be used to produce oat drinks. Meurens Natural wants to contribute to healthier food and a healthier world by supplying the food processing industry with non-refined organic and natural products using an environmentally-friendly production process.
What is SipaPro-Oat, the World’s First Organic Oat Protein Concentrate?
SipaPro-Oat is an organic oat protein concentrate that is a fully sustainable protein source. It is a by-product of our all natural, chemical-free production of oat syrups. SipaPro-Oat has a protein content of minimum 56%, and contains on average 26,5% of carbohydrates, of which 15% are fibers. It also contains 8,5% of lipids. SipaPro-Oat also has a good amino acid profile. It contains, apart from lysine, quite high amounts of essential amino acids compared to other cereals.
Why can SipaPro-Oat facilitate the creation of plant-based products?
Due to its fairly neutral taste, it does not negatively impact the taste of food products like other plant-based protein sources do. It also has a good amino acid profile, which makes it an excellent protein source.
In which plant-based products can SipaPro-Oat be used?
SipaPro -Oat can be used in a wide variety of applications, just think about biscuits, dairy products, dairy substitutes, smoothies, bread, pasta, protein bars… It is a very versatile ingredient!
Why is SipraPro-Oat a sustainable protein source?
This is due to the unique production process. We start our production process with cereal grains or flour. We add water and heat our mixture. We then cool down to a temperature acceptable for the enzymes to perform their hydrolysis. After the hydrolysis, we separate the soluble matter from the insoluble one. The soluble part goes through an evaporation and concentration step and finally results in our oat syrups which can be used to formulate Oat drinks amongst others.
The insoluble by-product is rich in protein and fibre. This side stream goes through an enrichment and drying step, which gives us ultimately our SipaPro-Oat protein concentrate. This process validates all side streams of our production and uses all the oat components, which makes our SipaPro-Oat a fully sustainable protein source.
