NEW TECH FOODS

New Zealand-based Leaft Foods has entered a strategic partnership with Lacto Japan Co to bring its Rubisco Protein Isolate to Japan’s food manufacturing sector.

The agreement will see Lacto Japan – a long-standing distributor and producer of speciality food ingredients – support the commercialisation of Rubisco in Japan, a market the companies describe as a global hub for food innovation.

Rubisco, a protein found in green leaves, is being positioned by Leaft as a high-performance alternative to animal-derived proteins such as whey. The company says its plant-based isolate offers a complete amino acid profile, alongside functional properties that could replace eggs, emulsifiers and gelling agents in a range of food applications.

Leaft claims its production system for Rubisco is commercially viable, backed by forward contracts and designed to meet both quality and sustainability requirements.

Lacto Japan, which has decades of experience connecting ingredient suppliers from New Zealand and Australia with Japanese manufacturers, will provide market intelligence, supply chain expertise and local relationship management.

The two companies are already working with several major Japanese food manufacturers and aim to build a business worth tens of millions of US dollars within five years.

John Penno, co-founder of Leaft Foods, said: "It has been tremendously exciting to work with Lacto, a capable and innovative partner, as we've sought to enter the sophisticated Japanese market. Lacto's role as our trusted local collaborator has been invaluable in providing essential market and supply chain intelligence and relationship management that can enable successful market penetration."

Takeshi Shimizu, general manager for Oceania at Lacto Japan, commented: "It is not every day that you discover such an exciting new protein. What impressed us most was not only the protein system itself, but the fact that we have been able to work with it in a range of promising applications from the start. The quality, texture and flavour of the foods produced meet the exceptionally high standards that Japanese consumers expect."

Top image: © Leaft