Apparo Inc earns upcycled certified classification for its sunflower protein ingredients

Apparo, a plant protein ingredient company, has received the Upcycled Certified classification from the Upcycled Food Association for its Solistein sunflower protein isolates.

In addition, the ingredients are Non-GMO Project Verified, highly functional, gluten-free/soy-free and vegan/vegetarian. These characteristics make Solistein 001 Sunflower Native Protein Isolate and Solistein 002 Sunflower Protein Isolate ideal ingredients to help meet the growing opportunities for food and nutritional companies in the plant-based food market.

“We’re proud to be part of the upcycling and Non-GMO communities and look forward to serving the needs of food and supplement developers looking for upcycled certified and Non-GMO sunflower proteins,” commented Ian Mackay, CEO of Apparo. “Both of our Solistein proteins are over 90% protein. The Solistein 001 has a sweet taste, and Solistein 002 has a neutral flavor. These options are true game changers that we believe will take plant-based products to the next level in terms of flavor opportunities.”

Commercial production is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2023, in quantities for limited product launches, and product and application development.

Through the patent-pending technology of its Total Crop Utilization program, Apparo is processing sunflower to recover additional nutrition for human applications. The company’s goal is to increase human nutritional use of the seed meal from sunflower oil production from near zero to over 80%.

According to Upcycled Food Association, more than 30% of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste. The organization believes upcycled food can help address this problem by creating new, high-quality products from surplus food.

“We are diverting crop resources from animal feed to human food, thereby sustainably redirecting existing nutritional resources for human use,” Mackay said. “We chose to work with sunflower seeds because they are a major global crop and a resource that can be scaled much more rapidly than many other protein sources in development. This will therefore have a more rapid and impactful sustainability effect with regards to scale and speed-to-market.

“Our company mission is ‘Food: More from Less’ and we continue to apply this to other potential feedstocks as our business develops," Mackay concluded. "In the short term, there are many opportunities to sustainably harvest more nutrition from existing feedstocks that are currently underutilized.”