Spain’s Zyrcular Foods begins production at plant protein facility

Plant-based company Zyrcular Foods has inaugurated a new alternative protein plant in the province of Barcelona, following an investment of €3.5 million.

Located in the town of Seva, the 1,500 square-metre facility will start to produce plant-based foods in mid-March. The factory will initially operate with a single shift, producing up to 1 million kilograms of alternative protein per year for third parties, supermarket chains, foodservice companies and food manufacturers.

Zyrcular Foods claims that its Seva factory is Spain’s first facility exclusively dedicated to alternative protein production.

As part of the Netherlands’ Wageningen Food Valley food cluster and the Good Food Institute, Zyrcular Foods will open up its facility to start-ups and foodtech businesses from Spain and elsewhere to manufacture and sell their products in Europe.

The alternative protein producer and distributor says this will enable businesses to produce and export their products across the Mediterranean, and in turn, reduce their carbon footprint.

Zyrcular Foods currently distributes alternative protein brands such as Beyond Meat, Gardein and Green Vie; but also supplies retail giant Aldi and Spanish chains La Sirena and Sánchez-Romero, as well as food service companies like Pad Thai Wok and Fosters Hollywood.

“We have gone from being a distributor of big international plant protein brands like Beyond Meat, NEXT, Gardein and Sophie’s Kitchen to producing them under contract. This is a significant milestone for innovation in the food industry in Spain,” said Santiago Aliaga, Zyrcular Foods CEO.

The company also highlights that the Seva facility operates via renewable on-site solar energy.

“Our dream must be to produce using locally grown plant raw material: that would enable us to bring our CO2 footprint down as low as possible,” added Aliaga.

Zyrcular Foods has also bought adjacent plots with a view to expanding the production of plant protein and other alternative protein foods in the future.

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