Food tech company Benson Hill reveals functional food goals for fresh produce
Seeking to deliver functional foods, St. Louis, Mo.-based food tech company Benson Hill has announced the launch of its Ingredient and Fresh business segments.
The company seeks to deliver enhanced products using the company’s proprietary CropOS technology platform, according to a news release.
Benson Hill’s CropOS technology platform combines data analytics and artificial intelligence with plant biology and food science to “leverage the vast, untapped natural genetic diversity within plants to simultaneously optimize for nutrition, flavor profiles and yield,” the release said.
Through its expanded infrastructure, Benson Hill looks to bring together its improved seed innovation through CropOS with closed-loop supply chains and best practices in the field to enable greater sustainability for ingredient and food companies and retailers, end-to-end traceability for consumers and greater profitability for farmers, the release said.
“Consumers want healthier, more flavorful and more sustainable food choices, but the traditional commodity model is not set up to meet that demand at scale,” said Matt Crisp, chief executive officer of Benson Hill, said in the release. “We are leveraging our best-in-class technology and working with our partners to drive the evolution of the current system toward a new model, where high-quality options that are better from the beginning are accessible to everyone.
He said the ingredient segment focused on enhancing yellow pea and soy ingredients for the fast-growing plant-based protein market.
Functional fresh
The Fresh business segment is being positioned to deliver differentiated produce to meet consumer and grower demand. Benson Hill’s Fresh segment, the release said, will focus on combining the breeding power of CropOS with the extensive grower base, distribution network and retail relationships of its wholly owned subsidiary, Florida-based J&J Family of Farrms, a field produce company.
The fresh business segment will be well-positioned to execute on the development and ultimately the commercialization of differentiated produce and “functional foods,” the release said, “with the potential to serve the growing convergence between the produce and pharmacy aisles.”
“Consumer appreciation that ‘food is health’ has never been higher, creating increased interest in new product choices and creative ways of incorporating produce into the diet,” Jim Gallagher, president of J&J, said in the release. “We believe Benson Hill’s genomics development platform is the engine to deliver the next wave of innovation opportunity in fresh produce, from enhanced nutrient density to consumer-desired attributes like lower sugar and climate resiliency, often for crops that haven’t had much innovation in the past. All of us at J&J are thrilled to be part of the Benson Hill family innovating for the future of food.”
Consistent with its values to deliver reliability and sustainability, the release said Benson Hill is investing to enhance J&J’s Florida and Georgia operations with breeding and testing sites, expanded processing and distribution capacity and sustainability best practices across J&J’s grower base.