Crespel & Deiters expands plant protein portfolio with pea-based Lory Tex Granules

Crespel & Deiters has expanded its plant-based ingredient portfolio with Lory Tex Granules, a pea-based extrudate developed for use in plant-based meat and fish alternatives, hybrid products, snacks and convenience foods.

• Crespel & Deiters has introduced pea-based Lory Tex Granules for plant-based meat, fish, hybrid, snack and convenience applications.
• The ingredient delivered more than 65% protein and 5.6g of dietary fiber per 100g, with a light color and near-neutral flavor profile.
• The company applied extrusion expertise developed over decades to create a granulated pea extrudate with defined functional properties.

The Germany-based company, which specializes in refining renewable plant-based raw materials, reported that the ingredient has been engineered to support functional performance in production, a defined nutritional profile and raw materials sourced solely from European agriculture.

In the development of plant-based meat and fish alternatives, wheat and pea protein remain among the most widely used ingredients. Crespel & Deiters has built much of its expertise around the precise control of functionality and product properties, applying processing know-how to improve how raw materials perform in finished formulations.

The company described Lory Tex Granules as part of a broader effort to transfer its long-standing wheat refinement and application knowledge to additional plant-based ingredients, including peas. The new ingredient was produced using extrusion, a process Crespel & Deiters has developed and refined over decades.

Through controlled process management, the company created a granulated pea extrudate with a slightly fibrous structure and defined properties. According to Crespel & Deiters, this made the ingredient reliable to work with in formulations and could help manufacturers reduce the length of ingredient lists in finished products, supporting clean-label and transparent-declaration goals.

Lory Tex Granules were also designed to address some of the formulation challenges often associated with pea-based proteins. The company reported that the extrudate had a light color and near-neutral flavor profile, characteristics it described as far from standard in pea-based plant proteins. Those attributes were intended to support simpler seasoning and product development.

The ingredient delivered a protein content of more than 65%, alongside dietary fiber content of 5.6g per 100g. Crespel & Deiters also highlighted its high water-binding capacity, which it reported could help manufacturers achieve the desired texture in the finished product at lower inclusion rates. The company said this could simplify recipes and improve efficiency in manufacturing.

Potential applications included plant-based meat and fish alternatives, hybrid products combining animal and plant protein sources, and snack and convenience formats where both texture and nutritional profile are important.

Philipp Deiters, CSO Food at Crespel & Deiters, said the expanded portfolio represented a continuation of the company’s approach to refinement across raw materials. “Refinement is not simply a label we apply to ourselves – it is a statement about what we do technologically,” Deiters said. “Taking a raw material and changing it so that it performs measurably better in a specific application than it would in its native form is what refinement means to us.”

He said this applied across multiple processing routes and raw material bases. “Be it extrusion, modification or protein hydrolysis – those who understand process technology know exactly what is behind it,” Deiters added. “And that standard applies to every raw material we work with, both wheat and peas alike.”

Deiters said the company saw its role as extending beyond ingredient supply, particularly for customers working on complex formulation and scale-up challenges.

“We are far more than an ingredient supplier, as we also promise process expertise and work with customers to deliver complex development projects,” he said. “Our technical center in Zwingenberg and our extrusion facility in Helmond, the Netherlands, are designed to deliver exactly that.”