Lantmännen and Ingredion Unveil NordPea Pea Protein Isolate From €100M Lidköping Plant, Targeting Dairy Alternatives and Beverages in Q2 2027

Swedish farmer-owned cooperative Lantmännen has unveiled NordPea, a pea protein isolate developed with Ingredion. It will be produced at Lantmännen’s new €100 million plant protein facility in Lidköping, Sweden. The ingredient is aimed at beverages, nutritional products and dairy alternatives. It will be formally launched at Fi Europe in Frankfurt on November 17–19, with commercial availability expected in the second quarter of 2027.

The launch puts a product name on a long-term partnership the two companies announced in November 2024. That deal pairs Lantmännen’s farm sourcing and processing with Ingredion’s ingredient development, processing know-how and global market access.

Capacity and timeline

The Lidköping plant is designed to process about 40,000 tonnes of peas and faba beans a year, according to Food Ingredients First. Protein Production Technology International notes that this is raw-material throughput, not isolate output. Vegconomist reports that Lantmännen has previously said the plant will yield roughly 7,000 tonnes of protein isolate a year.

The project has taken longer than first planned. Vegconomist notes that when Lantmännen announced it in 2022, it committed more than SEK 1 billion and expected completion in early 2026. By the September 2024 groundbreaking, the budget stood at SEK 1.2 billion and start-up had moved to the first half of 2027. Lantmännen’s product information says NordPea remains in final testing and that performance data are preliminary.

Product specification

The first isolate is expected to contain 85% protein and to be free of major allergens and gluten. Lantmännen says development has focused on a clean, neutral taste, solubility, dispersibility, light colour and a viscosity that gives a pleasant mouthfeel. These attributes are pain points for formulators using pea protein in ready-to-drink and ready-to-mix applications and dairy analogues. Target uses named by the companies include RTD and RTM beverages, nutritional foods and dairy alternatives.

“Pea protein is an increasingly popular choice for food and beverage manufacturers in Europe, and NordPea will help to satisfy this growing demand with a high-quality ingredient produced in a sustainable manner,” said Fredrik Krook, managing director of biorefineries at Lantmännen, as quoted by Food Ingredients First.

A vertically integrated, Nordic supply chain

NordPea will be made from yellow peas grown by Lantmännen’s cooperative members in Sweden, using varieties from the group’s own breeding programme. Lantmännen is owned by about 17,000 Swedish farmers and already produces wheat and oat proteins at its biorefinery sites in Norrköping and Kimstad.

The company says the Lidköping plant was designed around circularity. It uses heat recovery and purifies and recirculates process water, and every part of the pea is used, with side streams refined into other products. The facility received co-funding from Klimatklivet, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s climate investment programme. Lantmännen also points to pea cultivation’s role in crop rotations through nitrogen fixation.

Why it matters

For brand owners under pressure on traceability, Scope 3 reporting and supply security, a farm-to-isolate pea protein chain run by a single cooperative inside Sweden is a notable addition to Europe’s plant protein processing base. The open questions are functional and commercial. Food manufacturers will want to see whether NordPea’s neutral-flavour and solubility claims hold up in demanding beverage and dairy-analogue systems, and how its pricing compares with established isolates. With Ingredion’s market access behind it and an official launch at Fi Europe this month, buyers should get their first close look well ahead of the 2027 start-up.