Murad Al-Katib, president and CEO of AGT Food and Ingredients, holds up dried 'beads' of extruded yellow pea dough at an AGT processing facility in Regina, Sask., on July 14. The extruder was researched and designed in house by AGT.Michael Bell/The Globe and Mail
Murad Al-Katib dips his hands into a huge vat of yellow flakes and cradles them in his palms. They look just like breakfast cereal. Except these dried flakes are grain-free. They’re yellow pea dough, 60-per-cent protein. Mr. Al-Katib calls them the food of the future.
The CEO of AGT Foods and Ingredients is dwarfed by vats with pulses and pulse products in a facility on the perimeter of Regina. Pulses – lentils, chickpeas, peas and dry beans – are the edible seeds of legume plants. They’re nutritional powerhouses packed with three main parts: fiber, starch and protein. Protein, for its nutritional benefits, is the key component.
“There’s a global race to protein,” said Mr. Al-Katib, who has 22 pulse facilities that process and manufacture pulse products in Canada with facilities in Turkey, Australia, Kazakhstan and South Africa. “And it’s not about the U.S. burger war. It’s about how to produce affordable, nutritious plant-based alternatives that ultimately will feed the growing population.”
It’s also about trying to take hold of an emerging market, and Canada, the world’s largest exporter of pulses, is poised to jump in. More than eight million acres of farmland in Saskatchewan and Manitoba produce one-third of the world’s lentils and peas, in addition to other pulses like chickpeas and dry beans, adding up to $6.3-billion in the Canadian economy annually.
“We’re the world’s centre of production,” said Mr. Al-Katib. “Canada is the world’s reliable, stalwart supplier.”
Mr. Al-Katib handles some chickpeas. This part of the plant cleans and bags green lentils and chickpeas.Michael Bell/The Globe and Mail
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But there is one key question: Can Canada switch from our traditional business model – the export of pulses as a commodity – to the more lucrative one of also producing and exporting ingredients and ready-to-eat foods packed with pulse protein?
There’s a strong business case for the pivot: Global demand for protein is expected to double by 2050 to 455 million metric tons, according to the United Nations. This will be driven by population growth and by increased awareness about insufficient protein consumption. For example, 68 per cent of people in India do not consume enough protein. This includes lactating mothers, where low protein intake leads to poor neonatal growth and organ development.
Meeting the demand, however, cannot come solely from animal products, which are land- and resource-intensive and unsustainable, contributing 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. It also won’t come from the plant-based burger, which, while also using protein from pulses, is a comparatively expensive product that caters to the North American market. Enter: protein-fortified household staples.
Protein concentrates extracted from pulses can be added to any number of products: pasta, rice, bread, crackers. Snack foods and household staples composed mostly of simple carbohydrates can be turned into filling products packed with protein, without any animal products.
Vivek Lyer, extrusion plant manager for AGT Foods USA, walks toward a large bag of extruded yellow pea product. The flakes are tasty, have the mouth feel of a breakfast cereal and are very high in protein.Michael Bell/The Globe and Mail
The sector is, according to Mr. Al-Katib, relatively new. The Canadian land now focused on pulses (an area larger than Belgium) was often left to summer fallow, the soil blackened and barren, recovering from canola production.
But growers such as Mr. Al-Katib saw potential in this untended land. Lentils, peas and beans can be grown in rotation in the months after canola is harvested. They also require little labour and water, making them perfect for the arid landscapes of the southern prairies. And these resilient crops can better stand up to a climate future where droughts will be more common.
Pulse crops are also nitrogen fixers that restore the element in the soil while reducing CO2 emissions. The pulses grown in Canada last year removed 3.6-million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of taking more than one million cars off the road for a year, according to industry group Pulse Canada.
This means there’s big money, and few downsides, to pulse production. However, to this point, Canada has focused mostly on exporting the raw commodity to other markets, namely India, the U.S. and China.
This commodity-export model is not as profitable as end-product exports. Ingredients (such as protein concentrates like the flakes filling the vats in Mr. Al-Katib’s facility) are lighter and smaller, costing less to ship, and protein-fortified products can fetch a higher price.
“We need to take it further and look at how we make that next generation of highly functional or highly unique ingredients for more specialized, higher value markets,” said Darren Walkey, a Canadian research and development and innovation consultant who specializes in the plant-based protein sector.
An extruder pushes yellow pea dough through dies (the gold coloured discs). The dies can be changed to create different shapes.Michael Bell/The Globe and Mail
Mr. Al-Katib holds a variety of dies that can be used with AGT’s extruder. The extruder was built in 2022 and finished in early 2023.Michael Bell/The Globe and Mail
So far the jurisdiction that has excelled at innovative plant-based technologies is Israel. Short on land, the country has developed expertise in this industry to maximize their land productivity and share that knowledge with other countries in trade alliances. But Canada’s agricultural sector, limited in no way by land constraints, has historically prioritized the exporting of raw product.
Mr. Walkey says that Canadian companies are beginning to invest in and build facilities that will eventually produce protein fortified products. And a national strategy put forth by a group of companies, organizations, academics and researchers in the industry predicts Canada will be able to provide 10 per cent of the world’s plant-based protein by 2035, making it a $25-billion industry.
There are potential snags, including what to do with byproducts, said Jim House, a professor at the University of Manitoba who specializes in the protein research.
How fractionation works
Pulses – lentils, chickpeas, peas and dry beans – are the edible seeds of legume plants and contain three main parts: fiber, starch and – the key component – protein. Through a process called fractionation, protein can be squeezed out of pulses. There are two major types of fractionation: dry, also called air classification, and wet. Below is a simple illustration of the air classification process.
Seed
Hull
Lentils
1. DEHULLING
During this process, the seed coat (hull) is removed by machines that apply abrasive forces to disrupt the bond between the seed and the hull.
2. MILLING
The seeds are ground down to different consistencies, ranging from grits, which consist of visible and coarse fragments, to flours, which are a fine powder.
3. FRACTIONATION
Once milled, flours can be further fractionated by air classification into a light, fine fraction (rich in protein) and a heavy, coarse fraction (rich in starch). During air classification, as the flour is dispersed into the classifier, air is pulled into its chamber to create a rising air column. Smaller particles become airborne while larger particles sink. The process can be repeated for higher separation efficiencies.
Fine
fraction
Air
Coarse
fraction
4. EXTRUSION
Flour is fed into a barrel containing rotating screws that knead the material as it passes along a system applying combinations of pressure, temperature, moisture and sharp edges. Near the end of the barrel, the material begins to turn doughy and cook.
Heated barrel
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL,
SOURCE: PULSE CANADA; HIWANT INTERNATIONAL;
STURTEVANT INC.
How fractionation works
Pulses – lentils, chickpeas, peas and dry beans – are the edible seeds of legume plants and contain three main parts: fiber, starch and – the key component – protein. Through a process called fractionation, protein can be squeezed out of pulses. There are two major types of fractionation: dry, also called air classification, and wet. Below is a simple illustration of the air classification process.
Seed
Hull
Lentils
1. DEHULLING
During this process, the seed coat (hull) is removed by machines that apply abrasive forces to disrupt the bond between the seed and the hull.
2. MILLING
The seeds are ground down to different consistencies, ranging from grits, which consist of visible and coarse fragments, to flours, which are a fine powder.
3. FRACTIONATION
Once milled, flours can be further fractionated by air classification into a light, fine fraction (rich in protein) and a heavy, coarse fraction (rich in starch). During air classification, as the flour is dispersed into the classifier, air is pulled into its chamber to create a rising air column. Smaller particles become airborne while larger particles sink. The process can be repeated for higher separation efficiencies.
Fine
fraction
Air
Coarse
fraction
4. EXTRUSION
Flour is fed into a barrel containing rotating screws that knead the material as it passes along a system applying combinations of pressure, temperature, moisture and sharp edges. Near the end of the barrel, the material begins to turn doughy and cook.
Heated barrel
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: PULSE
CANADA; HIWANT INTERNATIONAL; STURTEVANT INC.
How fractionation works
Pulses – lentils, chickpeas, peas and dry beans – are the edible seeds of legume plants and contain three main parts: fiber, starch and – the key component – protein. Through a process called fractionation, protein can be squeezed out of pulses. There are two major types of fractionation: dry, also called air classification, and wet. Below is a simple illustration of the air classification process.
Lentils
Seed
Hull
1
1. DEHULLING
During this process, the seed coat (hull) is removed by machines that apply abrasive forces to disrupt the bond between the seed and the hull.
2
2. MILLING
The seeds are ground down to different consistencies, ranging from grits, which consist of visible and coarse fragments, to flours, which are a fine powder.
3
Fine
fraction
3. FRACTIONATION
Once milled, flours can be further fractionated by air classification into a light, fine fraction (rich in protein) and a heavy, coarse fraction (rich in starch). During air classification, as the flour is dispersed into the classifier, air is pulled into its chamber to create a rising air column. Smaller particles become airborne while larger particles sink. The process can be repeated for higher separation efficiencies.
Air
Coarse
fraction
4
4. EXTRUSION
Flour is fed into a barrel containing rotating screws that knead the material as it passes along a system applying combinations of pressure, temperature, moisture and sharp edges. Near the end of the barrel, the material begins to turn doughy and cook.
Heated barrel
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: PULSE CANADA; HIWANT INTERNATIONAL; STURTEVANT INC.
Protein is squeezed out of pulse seeds through a process called fractionation. There are two major types of fractionation: dry, also called air classification, and wet.
Up to 45 per cent of a pulse seed is starch. Once the protein is separated, that starch byproduct needs to be repurposed. Canada is starting to get creative: Starch is being modified for human foods, pharmaceuticals, biocomposites, textiles, pet foods and medical applications. Starch that cannot be upcycled is put into livestock feed.
In wet fractionation, which separates protein and starch based on their differences in solubility under alkaline or acidic conditions, the starch is concentrated enough to be used as a bio-degradable alternative in plastic packaging or bio-fuel. However, this method is water intensive. It eliminates the pulse product’s key advantage: low inputs.
“We need effective strategies to use water and energy,” said Dr. House.
Workers attach a cutting machine to the end of an extruder. The extruder can create differently sized, textured, and shaped high protein foods.Michael Bell/The Globe and Mail
Growers are finding other uses, too. AGT uses the shells of the pea and lentil – another byproduct discarded during the dehulling process – as casings for a new type of biomass fertilizer.
But one ubiquitous challenge remains: To make the switch from commodities to products, the industry needs investment, said Bill Greuel, CEO of Protein Industries Canada.
“There’s recognition that this is a sector that is underfunded and undercapitalized in Canada,” said Mr. Greuel, adding that the federal government pledged $353-million to Protein Industries from 2018 to 2028. The funds are earmarked for company scale-ups, research and commercialization of new products. “We can help accelerate the growth of the sector by investment.”
Mr. Al-Katib agrees. As a major international player in pulse export, he understands that the key to successfully winning the protein race comes down to investment, and efficient supply chains.
“We have to perfect global value chains to bring these products affordably to the world.”