Südzucker subsidiary Beneo, a leading manufacturer of functional ingredients, has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the Dutch company Meatless B.V. Meatless' current management will remain in office following the transaction. As part of the strategy “2026 Plus”, Südzucker Group has defined plant-based proteins as a focus topic. According to the company, the acquisition of Meatless supports Südzucker's goal of evolving from a large-scale processor of agricultural raw materials to a leading partner for plant-based solutions. With the acquisition Beneo is expanding its existing product portfolio to offer an even wider range of texturizing solutions for meat and fish alternatives.
Considering the growing world population and the associated higher protein requirements, as well as the general trend toward vegetarian and vegan diets, plant-based products and ingredients, as well as their further processing into sustainable meat and fish substitutes, will play a decisive role. Beneo is already responding to this trend with its textured wheat protein that is used as a meat replacer and is produced at the Wanze site in Belgium. With the acquisition of Meatless, Beneo can now offer its customers a variety of other opportunities to better serve the dynamic growth market of vegan and vegetarian substitute products.

Founded in 2005, Meatless itself has developed a unique production process that enables the production of texturates based on rice, wheat, faba beans, peas, lupins, quinoa and other raw materials. The result is neutral-tasting products with an extremely white colour that can be used in frozen or dried form as a vegetable alternative in fish and meat substitutes. These bring considerable advantages, not only in terms of animal welfare, but especially ecologically.