Juan I. Martínez Dodda
08/04/2021 8:17 AM
Clarín.com
Rural
Updated 08/04/2021 8:17 AM
Eating is no longer the same. The food choices that are made are different from those that were made in the past. Today, not only a physiological need is taken into account, thinking about survival (like, for example, breathing). They
also think about what to eat and analyze how what is produced on the plate was produced.
Today, it could be said that there is a multifactorial motivation when it comes to choosing food, consumers think about nutrition, their health and that of the planet.
This empowerment that consumers have had by approaching the gondolas of the world (even buying food virtually), has revolutionized the food industry (which has had to do expensive studies and analysis to understand what its customers want and then put it into practice ), but it also forced agricultural producers to rethink the knowledge passed down by generations among their families.
"The world asks for tasty, healthy and sustainable food, vegetable proteins are a solution to that demand, and here we can produce them, it was necessary to transform those grains into food with added value and that was what we were looking for", said
Agustín Belloso
, CEO and co-founder of Tomorrow Foods, an Argentine company that seeks to obtain protein isolates to sell them to the food industry as an input in the production of meat and dairy analogues or shakes used in sports activities. A protein isolate contains 90% protein.
Agustín grew up as a companion of his father, neither more nor less than César Belloso (in case there is any absent-minded, founding pioneer of AAPRESID), on trips and journeys. Between mate and mate he learned to love the countryside and rural areas. However, when he had to decide what to study, he opted for the legal profession. "My grandmother ´Coca´ (N of the R: the one who had the field in Chacabuco that César Belloso visited as a boy and whom he went to work when he received it) was angry with me because I did not study something related to food production" Belloso recalled.
The turns of life made that, in 2015, already received, he went to study an MBA in England for two years and was linked to renewable energies, a subject that re-linked him to the rural environment and to think about what he could do with César. “I came back with tools to work on initiatives to
add value at source, develop innovations
, we talked a lot with my father, and the link emerged with the one who is today the third partner,
Guillermo Lentini
, a chemical engineer (R&D director) and then with
Gonzalo Segovia
(commercial director) who came from the food industry, everything came together so that Tomorrow foods was born ”, said Agustín Belloso, who confessed:“ Little by little, I began to understand many things that my old man had been working on for a long time. ”.
Plant-based meat analogues based on pea.
"It was no coincidence, since 2014 we began to investigate and test with vegetable proteins, first with forage, legumes and grasses, which finally did not prosper, but left us a great learning,"
César Belloso
told Clarín Rural.
And he added: “This is how we began to isolate proteins, from a work with the INTI (N of the R: National Institute of Industrial Technology), a process that is not new is 60 years old, but it was not done in Argentina, we imported it , with a vision of contributing to the transition towards a more balanced diet ”.
What made you realize that you had to go one step further?
“Today we have primary production that already adds value, with a lot of demonstrable processes on the way from the field to the fork,“ farm-to-fork ”, but we believed that a further step could be taken by thinking not only in the field but also in a more agro-industrial aspect ”, said César Belloso.
"Pea" effect
Asked about a milestone or trigger for the emergence of this Argentine startup, Agustín Belloso cited the “
paradigmatic
situation
that occurs with the yellow pea that is exported at 250 dollars and when the protein isolate is imported, ten times more is paid
”.
Is the proposal to stop eating meat and animal products?
Is the only way to convert everyone to vegetarianism or veganism?
Unclear.
That is not the thing.
The proposed paradigm shift has to do with moving from the agro-export model to one with a higher percentage of value added at source that generates knowledge and innovation;
move from importing technology to developing new national technologies;
and from a wealth creation model to a business model that puts sustainability at the center of the scene.
The company will be developing the first R&D Center for vegetable proteins in the region.
In addition to peas,
they are already working with mung beans and chickpeas, as well as rice, lentils, quinoa
and more vegetable products that are the protein base to make the foods that are coming.
What is Plant Based?
Fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes ... with these ingredients a Plant Based diet is built, that is, based on plants.
But it doesn't have to be strict.
Today, there are vegetarians, vegans, but also flexitarians, that is, flexible vegetarians.
In fact, the label doesn't matter.
"We develop analogues to animal proteins from vegetable proteins, there are consumers who are not vegetarians or vegans, but they aim to eat more vegetables, new generations who aim for a varied diet," said Agustín Belloso.
And he added: "So, from a vegetable protein we seek to replicate the same multisensory experience, but also nutritional and functionality that animal proteins offer."
The term "analog" makes sense to transform a pea grain into a meat analog, that is, a hamburger;
or in a mayonnaise-like dressing, or dairy analogs (milk), ice cream, egg analogs, and nutritional shakes.
For this, they have a pilot plant in José León Suárez.
"We want to be an alternative to traditional food proposals, complement each other, not be a competition but rather a complementarity between animal and vegetable proteins," argued Agustín Belloso.
Millennials feel all these habit changes in a more natural way
.
Many of those in their 40s and older have been able to adapt to these changes despite not being born into this "green" century.
However, things look uphill for those who are over 60 and have lived more years in the analog age than in the digital one.
This does not apply to a permanent pioneer and innovator like César Belloso.
How do your generation take this, Caesar?
"For me, roasts are almost a religion, but the good thing is knowing that there are alternatives, you have to adapt to the new, that like everything new today, Plant Based is a small market compared to other traditional ones, it is growing," he said. Beautiful
And he added: "It is not a question of imposing, but of providing alternatives to processed and ultra-processed in a simpler way, because in large cities it is not easy to have a more natural consumption, analogs are an option."
"
To those who have already said no to the soy milanesa, I suggest that they go for the vegetable analogues
, that they give it a chance, because much progress has been made in technologies to improve textures, flavor and the entire sensory experience" Agustín Belloso was emboldened.
“Argentina and the region have a comparative advantage because they can produce more vegetable protein, so the heart of what we do is legumes, it could be soy, but we prefer legumes because it also means an opportunity to diversify rotations and they have a very good protein profile and functionality to design new foods ”, said Agustín Belloso.
In any case,
the objective of Tomorrow Foods is not to have its own brand but to become a reference for innovation in the region for this line of food
.
So when a company has to reconvert its product line, they can think of them to help them meet that challenge.
"To the extent that we encourage it, the bioeconomy is a great opportunity for Argentina because there are scientists and entrepreneurs, what is often lacking is a State that accompanies that spirit," said César Belloso.
Carnic analogues plant based on pea base
"All this, in turn, can help us to better communicate, or from another side, what we do in the field, what food production is about, there is a lot to work on this," added Agustín Belloso.
Attract investment
After two years of growth in the local market, Tomorrow Foods, achieved investments
totaling 3 million dollars
from local angel investors (an “angel investor” is a very wealthy individual interested in financing innovative business projects with high expected returns) and of important leading biotechnology companies that are committed to the growth of plant-based development in the country and the region.
"We are going to allocate these investments to deepen and accelerate efforts in R + D + I, research, development and innovation, and in turn expand our commercial footprint in Argentina and Latin America," said Agustín Belloso. And he added: “We are taking steps to
be a benchmark in plant-based analogues
and thus be able to support the different players in the regional food and beverage industry in the clear growth of this trend in food, for all this, it is a pride that investors trust us to take that role ”.
The company will be developing the first R&D Center for vegetable proteins in the region.
A pilot plant and an industrial plant for the extraction, isolation and functionalization of proteins will be added to the Applications Laboratory inaugurated months ago, which will help the company take new steps within the field.
The center will thus be the first competent regional hostel capable of isolating plant proteins on an industrial scale, taking advantage of the region's biodiversity and participating in the transformation of the food system.