Company upcycles barley waste into plant-based protein

EverGrain takes spent barley from breweries and turns it into nutritious functional ingredients for use throughout the food and beverage industry

Spotted: Each year, the global brewing industry uses 9 million metric tons of barley, with the spent grains then discarded, used as animal feed, or composted. Five years ago, Greg Belt, AB InBev’s former Global Vice President for Sustainability, started thinking about the potential of spent grains which, despite being discarded, are still rich in nutrients. After consulting with experts at University College Cork in Ireland and seeing the emergence of plant-based proteins in consumer trends, Belt created EverGrain. Sourcing its raw materials from AB InBev, the independent company turns spent barely into nutritious functional ingredients. Currently, there are two ingredients on offer: EverPro and EverVita.

Barley has a neutral taste and high-protein quality that is 95 per cent soluble. This solubility makes it easy to add nutrients to beverages without changing their appearance or texture. This is highlighted in EverPro, which is being marketed as an ingredient for plant-based dairy applications. EverVita on the other hand is a high-protein barley flour ingredient that is being pushed towards baked goods and the pasta sector. EverGrain’s operation works to reduce spent grain waste significantly. Nothing is wasted in the production of EverVita and, as EverPro is composed of 80 per cent protein, it only leaves behind a small amount of fibre which the company is working to transform into a third ingredient product.

EverGrain’s ingredients are just beginning to enter the food market. In the US, their ingredients are used in products from barley milk company, Take Two, while the UK markets will start receiving some of their products in March and April this year.