The little green seeds with the latin name pisum or more commonly known as field or garden peas, are among the oldest domesticated crops. In the Middle Ages they are constantly mentioned, as they were the staple that kept famine at bay. With sweeter and more digestible varieties developed over the years, peas have taken many shapes and functionalities and with climate changes, strong focus on sustainability and the search for alternative proteins, a renewed interest in the crop has appeared.
In Northern Europe, the crop has long been used as an excellent protein source in animal feed, and it has become increasingly popular among farmers looking for more climate resilient crop rotation and as a green alternative to soya in feed and in plant-based food production. With the rise in popularity, the demand for monitoring the crop has grown and FOSS has been a frontrunner in developing calibrations measuring its key parameters.
The compositional value of peas
Peas have many benefits both in animal feed and human consumption. With a low allergenicity and high nutritional value compared to other legumes, it can also be used in multiple plant-based applications from drinks, meat replacers, and as food stabilizer. Still, the crop varies significantly not only depending on the variety, but also the seasons and conditions in which they are grown. The big variation makes the demand for compositional insights of great importance, as it determines its optimal use in animal feed and plant-based food products and often harvested peas can be segregated into different purposes depending on key parameters like protein level or cookability.
Emma Deyer Matzen, an in-house scientist at FOSS who wrote a thesis on the subject, explains: “The challenge is that pea proteins differ when it comes to protein denaturation and aggregation which again is affected by presence of different starch types. Without proper compositional analysis, this makes pea ingredients difficult to implement in a standardized food production and may result in varying products quality,” she says and explains: “Depending on the variety and season, the composition and functionality may differ between peas from the same plot and by analysing and monitoring the harvest, you can not only determine what peas to use in animal feed and food production, but also narrow it down into the peas that are best suited for producing e.g. plant-based drinks, or burger patties,” she says and continues: “In plant-based drinks, to give an example, we want peas with a high level of soluble proteins, but we also so that the drink does not form sediments during storage, making it look faulty.” She says: “For this we need to test the raw material composition and make sure to make optimal use of the protein material,” Emma concludes.
Quality solutions for the vast spectrum of alternative protein materials
Fuelled by the increased demand for alternative proteins, FOSS has become a front runner in developing solutions for quality analysis in this area. Head of the alternative protein initiative, Mette Skau Mikkelsen, explains: “The value of analysing your raw materials, for example protein crops like peas, and using data in your food production, is that you would know the exact quality of the incoming material and thereby being able to predict its usability. As said by one of our customers – High-quality product taste and texture starts by controlling basic input factors such as protein and moisture.”
Quality analysis is of great benefit throughout the alternative protein production process. Mette amplifies: “Continuous monitoring of the composition through the steps of extraction enables proper process control and improved production efficiency all the way to the stage of final product control and labelling. This helps create a consistent final product with a complete nutritional profile and the right texture and taste.”
FOSS is at the forefront when it comes to alternative protein analysis and now has several solutions supporting the industry. “For our benchtop Infratec™, we have calibrations supporting a wide range of sample types including beans, peas and other pulses.” Mette explains: “The Infratec is excellent at monitoring larger amounts of incoming crops at for example harvest and Infratec has ready-to-use analytics packages from a broad range of sample types, including wheat, corn, and other cereals, oilseeds, beans, peas and pulses,” she says and continues: “For smaller sample amounts, milling fractions, process samples and protein ingredients, NIRS™ DS3 provides fast, precise, and accurate results with minimal sample preparation. This ensures consistent end-product quality while saving money in the development and production of plant-based products. We have just finalized calibration packages for NIRS DS3 supporting a broad range of alternative protein ingredients like peas, soya and texturized products.”
33.000 unique seed samples
NordGen is a Nordic resource center for genetic research and a plant gene bank holding a seed collection consisting of 33.000 unique seed samples. To provide NordGen users the best possible overview of available seeds, FOSS and NordGen have finalized a study where all the peas in the collection have been measured with NIR spectroscopy to predict compositional parameters such as protein and moisture and to map each of their unique chemical fingerprints.
“Using both Infratec and NIRS DS3, we helped mapping the grand pea seed collection. At the same time, the project has been instrumental in updating our solutions with unique pea varieties and developing strong and robust calibrations supporting the alternative protein industry,” Mette explains and concludes: “We are working very closely with the industry and constantly expanding the pool of data to support our customers and be at the forefront of trends and needs. Our big data pool is what makes our calibrations reliable no matter the external factors. Our solutions are constantly being updated to support all sample types globally and this is what makes our solutions stand out.”