KeyLeaf LLC announced today that 2020 was a banner year for the plant-based ingredient company. The company’s Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development, Justin White, believes last year’s achievements in the lab and on the processing line, along with the burgeoning demand for plant-based ingredients in the marketplace, has positioned the company for growth in 2021.

“2020 was the first full year the company operated under its new name, KeyLeaf, after pivoting away from its former identity, POS Bio-Sciences. The company successfully refreshed its brand as part of an overall strategy to increase its visibility and strengthen its identity in an industry that was experiencing tremendous growth and change,” said White.

“The rebrand enabled KeyLeaf to commercialize a pipeline of plant-derived ingredients and products under its own banner – one of the company’s goals for 2021,” said Margie Adelman, Vice President of Marketing for Beyond Brands, a natural products consulting firm that helped KeyLeaf establish its new identity and direction.

Already creating enthusiasm after its recent debut is KeyLeaf’s new protein powder concentrate, Hemp Protein 60. The company believes its high-purity ingredient is going to be a hit with food formulators due to its 60% protein content, light color, and barely detectable flavor, making it an ideal source of plant-based protein for a wide variety of applications.  Also debuting from the KeyLeaf pipeline is the company’s premium cold pressed filtered hemp oil.  

KeyLeaf’s primary mission throughout 2021 will be to continue to increase and develop extraction capabilities for its parent company while producing its own line of hemp products and ingredients. KeyLeaf will also expand its custom manufacturing work for outside clients involving aqueous protein extraction and oils processing including refining, bleaching, deodorizing, and winterizing. The company is also able to accommodate requests from outside clients for research and development services. “During the past year we’ve learned quite a bit about how to more efficiently manage our service business to accommodate increasing numbers of contract clients,” said White.

One of KeyLeaf’s major shifts for 2021 will be to focus more heavily on the health and wellness industries, especially nutraceuticals. “KeyLeaf has a long history of innovation in the health and wellness sector so focusing on processing of supplements and nutraceuticals aligns well with one of our core competencies,” said Dr. Rick Green, KeyLeaf’s Director of Manufacturing Process Development.  

Driven by health concerns, ethics, and sustainability issues, KeyLeaf believes the plant-based food and proteins space should continue to grow for the foreseeable future, with plant-based burgers and plant-based milk products enjoying the bulk of retail consumer attention. “Some of the new ingredients coming into the market will include algal proteins, mushroom proteins, and fermentation-based protein products. New supplements and functional food products for building immunity will continue to appear in ever greater numbers, along with plant-based products for boosting mood,” said Dr. Anusha Samaranayaka, KeyLeaf’s Lead Scientist for Proteins.  

KeyLeaf stands ready to provide its expertise and decades of experience to help companies viably bring some of these and other novel plant-based products and ingredients into the marketplace.

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