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 Maija Itkonen and Reetta Kivela, founders of the Finnish food
technology start-up Gold & Green Foods, call the product "pulled
oats".
"The oats are sheared and heated under the right conditions and
combined with the beans. The amino acids that are lacking in oats
are in the beans, so they are a good combination," said Kivela, a
food scientist, at a lunchtime tasting session in a local restaurant
in Helsinki.
"We have patented our production method that allows us to produce
the fibrous texture of oats and beans" she said.
The company now aims to have products in stores in Finland and
Sweden by the end of the year.
"We want to first prove our point in our home market and then look
for licensing opportunities for further expansion," Itkonen said.
Consumers have already embraced protein-packed meat substitutes made
from wheat, soy and other beans, while newer companies are pushing
boundaries with products based on fungi and insects in a global
market worth $1.8 billion last year and projected to be worth $2.2
billion by 2020, according to Euromonitor International.
The two leading players, which each have about 13 percent of the
market, are Kellogg, which owns the U.S. brands Morningstar Farms
and Gardenburger, and Monde Nissin Corp from the Philippines, which
last year bought British firm Quorn Foods for 700 million euros
($763 million).
Behind them are Nestle, Pinnacle Foods and Hain Celestial Group.
Itkonen and Kivela, both in their thirties, only started Gold &
Green in April last year as a result of Kivela's research on oats at
the University of Helsinki.
Industrial designer Itkonen, who is chief executive, brings her
entrepreneurial skills to the venture, having founded wireless phone
charger company Powerkiss in 2008 which was acquired in 2013 by
Powermat Technologies.
Gold & Green says its product stands out from soy-based foods
because it is a non-GMO and potentially gluten-free alternative and
unlike the mycoprotein meat substitute Quorn, the oat-based product
is also non-allergenic.
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Nutrionist Heli Reinivuo from Finland's National Institute for
Health and Welfare said the product promised to be a healthy
alternative to meat.
"It has good quality protein and high protein content. It also
contains fibre called beta-glucan ... I believe we could recommend
the product to consumers once it's on the market," she said.
Gold & Green raised 300,000 euros last year and Itkonen said the
company is now looking for a larger sum from its second funding
round to set up and start production.
"It looks like a product that could strike a chord with the big
trend of ecological consumption. In the western world, innovations
in this sphere have a good chance of succeeding," said Niclas Catani,
an equity analyst at OP Financial Group.
"It will hardly bring a revolution overnight but the start-up can
nevertheless make good money out of it."
($1 = 0.9177 euros)
(This version of the story adds the dropped word "Foods" in name of
company in second paragraph.)
(Additional reporting by Jussi Rosendahl and Martinne Geller;
Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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