EverGrain Begin Production of Upcycled Barley Protein

EverGrain has enlisted a scientific advisory board to study nutrition, health, and sustainability benefits in brewers spent grain (BSG). Five scientists from the leading universities in nutrition, food and health, agriculture, and environmental sciences will be collaborating with EverGrain to release the full potential of BSG, a nutrient-rich byproduct of the beer brewing process.

The brewing industry generates around nine million metric tons of dry spent barley grain every year, and is typically relegated to animal feed or landfill. The grain is also deemed spent because it cannot be used for making more beer, as most of the starches of the grain have been extracted by the brewery to provide fermentable sugars to the yeast.

Although, what has remained is considered a functional food and is packed with benefits including fibre, phenolic compounds, and protein as well as one of the most accessible, and sustainable plant-based ingredients in the world.

EverGrain was founded by AB InBev in 2021 for taking its BSG one step further, for the purpose of examining every molecule of barley and building an ingredient portfolio that mainly improves the nutrition and environmental integrity of the plant-based foods.

Steffen Munch, global head of R&D of EverGrain, said they are considering upcycled BSG as one of the most sustainable protein sources on Earth because it is delivering high quality nutrition with a very low carbon impact.