Müller’s Mühle makes €14.5 million investment in vegetable proteins

Müller’s Mühle, one of the leading suppliers of legume and rice flours, has invested €14.5 million in new refining technology for legume flours. With the help of a modern air separation plant, the company can now produce functional flours with a protein content of up to 65%, enabling protein enrichment and nutritional optimisation of many foods. They are particularly suitable as a basis for plant-based alternatives such as meat, egg and milk substitutes, as well as for snacks, baked goods and pasta. Müller’s Mühle uses different legume species as raw materials, and processes them gently to preserve their valuable nutrients. The flours are marketed under the “SMART Pulses Pro” brand. At source, they are naturally free of allergens and are also clean label.

With their high-quality nutritional and functional properties, “SMART Pulses Pro” ingredients enable the development of innovative product concepts in the plant-based segment.

From cheese, yoghurt and quark substitutes to plant-based drinks and desserts, the range of applications for milk alternatives is huge, according to the company. In this area, lentil-based flours are particularly interesting thanks to their relatively neutral taste profile. From a sensory point of view, SMART ingredients also score in terms of texture: they impart appealing consistency and creaminess to products. Furthermore, their nutritional profile enables high-protein positioning and a desirable NutriScore.

Thanks to their protein content and structure-forming properties, “SMART Pulses Pro” concentrates can be further processed into high-quality texturates that serve as a basis for meat substitutes. In addition to purely vegan and vegetarian products, pulse-based texturates are also suitable for hybrid products in which the meat content is partially replaced.

Be it for baked goods, vegan mayonnaises or dressings: the emulsifying effect of the new concentrates makes it possible to replace eggs in a variety of recipes. But the legume flours are also the base for innovative egg substitutes, such as vegan scrambled eggs.

In addition to protein, Müller’s Mühle legume flours provide dietary fibre and minerals, B vitamins and trace elements and, in this respect, are far superior to protein isolates, says the company. In terms of sustainability, the flours are reportedly convincing due to their resource-saving cultivation: legumes do not require artificial nitrogen fertiliser, increase soil fertility and have a low water requirement. Legume-based products therefore meet the needs of environmentally-conscious consumers who are willing to pay a higher price for food that is produced as sustainably as possible.

”Vegan, high-protein, low carb, clean label, free-from – pulses serve several major food trends at once. Moreover, with their low carbon footprint and excellent nutritional profile, they are the ideal raw material for a sustainable diet,” says Uwe Walter, managing director at Müller’s Mühle. “We are therefore convinced that ingredients based on these superfoods will become increasingly important for contemporary food concepts. From new product development to reformulation, with our new functional variants, we can support food manufacturers better than ever.”

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