UK – British food ingredients supplier, Tate & Lyle PLC has eliminated the use of coal-based energy in all its operations across the world four years ahead of schedule. 

“We recognize the need for businesses to play their part in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions,” said Tate & Lyle CEO Nick Hampton.  

“By eliminating the use of coal-based energy in all our plants we have taken a significant step forward in our sustainability journey.” 

The shift away from coal marks the completion of a multi-year green energy investment program amounting to more than US$150 million in Tate & Lyle’s plants.  

The investment primarily focused on replacing coal systems with natural gas-fired combined heat and power systems at four corn wet mills in Loudon, Tennessee, Decatur, Illinois and both plants in Lafayette, Ind.  

The Sagamore plant in Lafayette decommissioned its coal system in 2014, followed by Loudon in 2017, and then the Lafayette South plant earlier this year.  

With the decommissioning of the final coal system at the Decatur, Ill., plant last month, Tate & Lyle delivered on its commitment to be coal free by 2025. 

The elimination of coal-based energy at these sites means less water will be used and local communities will benefit from improved air quality and less truck traffic. 

“Moving away from onsite coal consumption is a key part of our sustainability programme to drive a significant reduction in our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions,” added Sara Leeman, Tate & Lyle’s global environmental lead 

“We have now fully decommissioned all onsite coal systems at our sites.” 

Distribution partnership with Nutriati 

Meanwhile, Tate & Lyle and Nutriati have entered an exclusive five-year partnership in which Tate & Lyle will distribute Nutriati’s chickpea protein and flour.   

Nutriati introduced its chickpeas ingredients under the Artesa brand in 2018 and hopes the new partnership with the UK food ingredients supplier will make the products more widely available in the food and beverage and nutrition spaces. 

“We are delighted to partner with Nutriati, a company that has developed patented technology to produce highly functional and sustainable plant-based ingredients through an environmentally friendly water-free separation method,” said Victoria Spadaro Grant, president, innovation and commercial development for London-based Tate & Lyle.  

“We are confident that Tate & Lyle’s global scale and capabilities in applications development, sales and quality assurance, will help us ensure more consumers get the plant-based products they are asking for on the dinner table.” 

Nutriati’s deal is timely as demand for plant-based proteins has been surging over the past few years as more producers join the field and more consumers adopt meat alternatives for health and environmental reasons.  

Grocery sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products have grown 27% in the past year to US$7 billion, according to the Good Food Institute.  

Global Data further indicates that globally, 23% of consumers are limiting the amount of meat they consumers, providing a new opportunity for plant-based meat alterantives. 

 Additionally, the Plant-based Food Association notes that last year, the plant-based meat alternatives market grew twice as fast as conventional meat. 

This shows the potential of the plant-based protein market and the opportunities that exist for Nutriati in its new partnership with a food ingredient supplier like Tate & Lyle that has a global footprint.  

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