In recent years, the compound growth rate of carbonated beverages, led by Coca-Cola, has shown a continuous downward trend in the United States and China. Carbonated drinks are gradually gaining market share by some health drinks, such as plant-based protein drinks, because of the growing awareness of the benefits of healthy food and the increasing fear of diseases caused by high sugar and high-calorie products. According to a survey conducted by the International Food Information Council in the United States, 28% of people reported eating more plant-based protein food between 2019 and 2020.
More than that, many well-known enterprises have entered the plant-based protein beverage market driven by consumer demand. For example, Coca-Cola has stepped into the field of healthy plant-based drinks through an announcement that it has reached an agreement with Unilever to buy AdeS, a brand focusing on soybean drinks and fruit juices. It’s undeniable that the addition of well-known enterprises directly drives the market growth rate of plant-based protein drinks. From the report by Allied Market Research, the market size of plant-based protein supplements is worth $4.2 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $7 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% from 2019 to 2026.
There are good reasons why plant-based protein is in vogue. In addition to its health value and huge market investment, the stimulation of the aseptic filling machine and aseptic packaging machine to the plant-based protein beverage market cannot be ignored. The description of plant-based protein drinks in Hygienic Standard for Plant-based Protein Beverage says: it is the milk beverage is made from plant kernel, pulp, and soybean (such as soybean, peanut, almond, walnut kernel, coconut, etc.) through processing, blending, and high-pressure sterilization or aseptic packaging. Therefore, aseptic filling and packaging machines meet the health and technical requirements of consumers for plant-based protein drinks. In turn, plant-based protein drinks also bring huge business opportunities for aseptic filling machine providers.
Aseptic filling technology is to fill sterilized qualified drinks (such as juice, fruit, energy drinks, etc.) into aseptic equipment in a clean filling environment without adding preservatives and sealing, to extend the shelf life of products and meet the growing demand of customers for health. Aseptic filling machines are good at sterilizing and cleaning the surface, pipeline, materials, environment, medium, packaging containers, and bottle caps.
Because the beverage will be inevitably polluted by biological pollution during production, packaging, or transportation, and people have higher and higher health requirements for all kinds of beverages, it is of great significance to apply aseptic filling and packaging machines in beverage production. Moreover, it has become a common concern for beverage packaging manufacturers to deliver cost-effective aseptic filling equipment and technology with the best performance to customers.
With more than 20 years of beverage packaging experience, Tech-Long stands out with its aseptic filling machines and has led the development of aseptic filling technology. The Tech-Long aseptic filling machine is equipped with an intelligent control system to achieve a non-contact filling method and effectively prevent the secondary pollution of plant-based protein drinks. Simultaneously, the control switch by diaphragm valve ensures the sanitation of filling. Tech-Long aseptic filling machine adopts electromagnetic flowmeter quantitative filling method so that accurate filling level control and rapid formula change are easy to go. Equipped with a weighing instrument, the aseptic filling equipment can control the filling accuracy more flexibly without the limitation of filling quantity.
It is predicted that as the increasing attention to this protein, plant-based protein drinks can well meet the needs of lactose intolerance. Meanwhile, the global plant-based protein supplement market has increased demand for protein from soybeans, rice, and almonds. It is expected to provide attractive business opportunities for retailers and aseptic filling equipment providers.