David Janow, CEO of Axiom Foods, a former Wall Street food commodities broker said in a press release: "Over 2000 food, beverage and skincare SKUs currently use our rice or pea proteins as an ingredient. Since we started in 2005, plant protein debuted as a key component in nutraceutical products and it is now becoming a significant international player in the mainstream food and beverage industries.”
“This FDA approval is the one thing that the majors such as PepsiCo, Nestle/General Mills and Kraft have been asking of the industry to support their plant protein initiative,” he added.” For Axiom Foods, this GRAS classification translates into rice and pea protein no longer classified as an 'alternative protein source,' used as a supplement or something found in natural products only," he added.
The Oryzatein ingredient has been used in several studies, such as the industry-funded 2013 clinical trial published in Nutrition Journal, which compared the muscle building and maintenance ability of animal-based whey protein to plant-based rice protein.
Axiom Foods cited an interview from last month published in Forbes, where Wedbush Securities Analyst Phil Terpolilli estimated the plant-based food industry to represent more than $3.5 biullion in sales.
To read Axiom's GRAS application for rice protein, please click here.
To read Axiom's GRAS application for pea protein, please click here.
As of July 15, 2016, both are listed as pending on the FDA GRAS inventory, but NutraIngredients-USA has verified the letters of no objection from FDA.