Nutrition arm of dairy cooperative Laïta stresses importance of plant-based ingredients

The cooperative said the market for plant-based beverages is more promising than ever as interest in plant-based foods and drinks grows. It pointed to the market for plant-based proteins now representing almost €10bn globally, with the FAO estimating a 40% increase in world protein demand by 2030.

Plant-based food sales are also outpacing total retail food sales (35% faster than total retail food).

Laïta said the plant-based trend is challenging for dairy companies. They need to reinvent themselves to innovate and offer new solutions for their customers. With plant-based proteins, it said the field of possibilities is huge (soya, lupin, lentils, rice, corn, hemp, etc.).

Laïta Nutrition added it offers a complete range tailored to the specific needs of all areas of the nutrition and health sector, from dietary and sports nutrition to specialized medical and infant nutrition products. The company currently offers a range of plant-based products for clinical nutrition and is developing a plant-based formulation for sports nutrition by 2022.

“We are a dairy cooperative, first and foremost. We do have several markets, however, and the expertise of our health division lies in formulating complex products,”​ said M. Lucot, Laïta Nutrition marketing manager.

“We must therefore explore every available ingredient. As a formulator, we have developed strong expertise in adapting to any ingredients. We have done a lot of work on the selection of raw materials, and are very active in studying new ingredients that can be tested in our formulas. Today, we are able to come up with formulas containing plant-based proteins of many origins, while maintaining functional and organoleptic stability in our finished products.” ​

Laïta Nutrition said it is expanding its range of finished products based on 100% plant proteins, opening up new perspectives for innovation to satisfy all types of consumers.