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NUTRIS.tech: The first fava beans and potato processing factory using One-In-All-Out concept by SiccaDania

Our fava bean and potato proteins are produced with patented technology that ensures gentle fractionation of plant materials into high-value products.

The ONE-IN-ALL-OUT concept involves optimizing fractionation methods to produce native plant ingredients according to the following objectives:
•Producing high-quality protein isolate by gentle bio-fractionation of the fava bean plant materials •Maximizing utilization of plant raw materials to minimize waste or side-stream production 
•Minimized use of core resources, such as water and energy

Fava bean, which has been part of the traditional songs only in the southern parts of Croatia so far, is beginning to spread on more and more hectares of Slatina fields.

Fava bean is trending on the world food market, which was reason enough for a Danish and Croatian investor to jointly decide to build a factory for fava beans processing and vegetable protein production in Croatia, the first of its kind in Europe. It is a completely new technology, and the investment is worth 29,3 million euros. The factory will start operating at the end of July and will cover an area of 42 hectares of the former pig farm in Novi Senkovac near Slatina.

Although continental part of Croatia does not have a tradition of this field culture, NutriS CEO Zvonimir Sedlić explains that the fact that production on our farmland has been neglected is now turning into an advantage, since protein isolates are the basis of a healthy diet based on alternative sources, such as soy and peas. The healthy food production is getting the spotlight, and our fields are ecologically clean. Annually, global demand for plant-based proteins reports the double-digit growth. In Europe, for example, it has grown by almost 50% during the last two years. And fava bean is a culture that is just being discovered and is becoming more interesting.

That is the main reason, explains Sedlić, why it is just the right time to enter that market niche with huge potential and take leading position for the future. It is a high-value protein culture, which does not have a GMO version and which, due to the high protein content, up to 35 percent, and about four times more protein than oats and barley, is grown for pastoral farming, but now there is also an increasing demand for human consumption, as a substitute for soy protein.

“The idea and vision of starting the production of plant-based protein have developed several years ago and is based on the fact that Croatia has a surplus in the production of almost all field cultures that we export as quality raw material, and which supplies the industry of foreign markets. The research of available technologies established contact with the Danish company SiccaDania, today one of the leading companies, which provides ready-made process solutions in the plant-based industry”, says Sedlić, adding that today’s partner presented him a unique patented One-In-All-Out method at the end of year 2018, i.e., the fava bean fractionation process, developed in collaboration with SiccaDania and the University of Copenhagen.

“That process separates plant ingredients such as protein, starch and fiber in a gentle and environmentally sustainable way and turns them into high-quality products intended for the food industry,” explains Sedlić. Beside fava beans, which will be the primary crop, the factory will also be able to process potatoes into starch, thus maximizing factory’s capacity.

“The final phase of a unique hybrid factory construction for the production of protein, starch and fiber from fava bean and potato crops is laying the foundations for a completely new industry and is the result of quality cooperation marked by Croatian innovation, perseverance and Danish engineering approach,” said Sedlić, who is almost impossible to “catch” because the project has entered into its final phase. At this moment, the final phase of the equipment installation is taking place in the factory, followed by commissioning with a trial run that will last till the end of September, he says. In parallel, NutriS conducts “recruitment”, seeks, and employs food technologists, operators, electricians, mechatronics, and the plan is for the factory to employ about 60 people in full capacity in three shifts. “We offer all our employees quality working conditions in the high-tech industry”, adds Sedlić, noting that NutriS believes that the nutritional, innovative and sustainable concept, which they implement in every segment of their business, brings a revolution for the future of agriculture, where fava beans will play a central role in plant-based substitutes for meat, milk, eggs and also in sports nutrition.

Important for its position is the fact that, in addition to being one of the fastest growing markets, Europe covers more than 75% of its protein needs from import. NutriS products will therefore be designed to provide the supply chain for this, one of the fastest growing industries of our era. Apart from food products, this raw material is also required in the pharmaceutical industry. Although the production of this legume in our continental areas is almost unknown to most of our farmers, this entrepreneur is optimistic that many of them will recognize the growth potential of this market in the short and medium term. Already last year, thanks to his investment project in our continental farmland, were planted the first farms in the history, when Siniša Hrgović entered the venture, examining the ground and varieties of fava beans on his family farm. He wanted to determine the most favorable combinations with the best ratio of yield and quality in our climate area. The Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek is also involved in the research, and several other farmers are participating. In 2020 experimental phase, there were about 30 hectares covered with fava beans for NutriS, while this year that area has increased tenfold. The interest of farmers is growing, so for the next year NutriS expects around 3 thousand hectares planted with fava beans. The cultivation of this type of fava beans requires high humidity, so therefore this procedure involves investing in irrigation. A stable variety is needed and the process itself, says Hrgović, is the same as growing soybeans. The price of soybeans is also the basis for determining the price of fava beans, while an additional advantage is that this crop has entered the incentive system, so the possibility of being more profitable than soybeans has already intrigued real farmers, explains Hrgović. In the meantime, until it is “rooted” in the Slavonian and probably Međimurje fields, since it is a large capacity factory, NutriS will import raw materials from other EU countries where fava beans are planted, like France, Germany, and the Baltic countries, but the future intention is for whole production to rely on the domestic raw materials.

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