Australia Gets Its First Plant-Based Meat Ingredient Facility

With $1 million in assistance from the Australian Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, Harvest B has opened the first facility dedicated to plant-based meat ingredients in Australia.

The new Sydney-based facility will be capable of producing up to 1,000 metric tons of plant-based protein made from Australian-grown grains, with plans to scale up. Harvest B says its novel tech creates a less expensive protein that eliminates the need for cold-chain and artificial ingredients while still delivering a meaty texture.

Locally sourced, locally produced

“When investigating the plant-based protein market, it became apparent that there was not a single large-scale ingredient brand supplying high-quality, locally made plant proteins to Australian food manufacturers,” Harvest B Co-founder and CCO, Alfred Lo, said in a statement. “Now food manufacturers have the option to source locally developed products leveraging local inputs rather than resorting to international suppliers,” Lo said.

“Australia is a nation blessed with abundant natural resources, yet we have relied too heavily on the luck associated with trading these commodities in a raw state. Like Harvest B, we should be leveraging our smarts and add value to these high-quality natural resources – right here in Australia,” said Jens Goennemann, Managing Director for the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre.

Harvest B says by incorporating locally grown grains, it will deliver a sustainable ingredient solution to consumer-facing food brands, manufacturers, and food service companies across the continent. Notably, Harvest B says it can do this at a price less than locally sourced animal ingredients and imported plant-based protein.

“It made absolutely no sense that high quality, Australian grown produce is shipped offshore to be processed only for us to buy it back at higher costs as finished consumer products,” said Harvest B Co-founder and CEO, Kristi Riordan. “It became quickly evident to Harvest B that there was a significant opportunity for this value add to be done in Australia, creating local jobs and greater export opportunities.”

Supplying the demand for smart protein

Harvest B says it will supply food manufacturers and food service providers ingredients for plant-based mince, sausages, and patties as well as develop its own range of proprietary plant-based products. The company says it will initially develop ten different product lines, some of which will be positioned for export to Southeast Asia where demand for plant-based protein is on the rise.

“To ensure we can grow our business, Harvest B invested heavily in research and development to create a novel product range that we believe exceeds the taste, texture, and price expectations of our consumers,” said Riordan. “In fact, industry and consumer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive to the point that we now have customers, both locally and abroad, approaching us.”

The launch comes just months after Australian cultivated meat producer Vow debuted Factory 1, another facility aimed at disrupting the conventional protein sector. It says its new facility can produce 30 tons of cultivated meat per year.