EverGrain, a sustainable ingredient company created by AB InBev, has announced the launch of its scientific advisory board to unleash the full potential of brewers spent grain (BSG) and its benefits to human health and environmental sustainability. BSG is the nutrient-rich byproduct of the beer brewing process. Five scientists from leading universities in food, nutrition and health, agriculture, and environmental sciences will advise and collaborate with the EverGrain R&D team to accelerate the use of BSG’s uniquely sustainable plant-based proteins and fibers in nutrient-rich, low carbon foods and beverages.
The members of the EverGrain Scientific Advisory Board (ESAB) are:
- Prof. Dr. Elke Arendt, MSc, PhD, DSc, University College Cork (Ireland): Professor in the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences and specializing in cereals, malting, and brewing science with a particular focus on gluten-free foods and beverages, starter cultures, functional beverages, rheology, and food structure.
- Prof. Dr. Christophe Courtin, PhD, KU Leuven (Belgium): Professor of Food Biochemistry at the Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry specializing in the molecular biology of cereal starch, non-starch carbohydrates, and dietary fiber, with a focus on the functionality of dietary fibers in human health and applications in other areas of technology.
- Dr. Diederik Esser, PhD, Wageningen University & Research (Netherlands): Senior Researcher specializing in the study of nutrition quality and bio-functional activity of emerging, sustainable protein sources, especially as they relate to the performance of endurance athletes and metabolic systems.
- Prof. Dr. Thomas Hofmann, PhD, Technical University of Munich (Germany): President of the Technical University of Munich and professor in the newly established chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensors specializing in screening, identifying, and quantifying chemical compounds that are naturally occurring and/or formed during processing and can influence the sensory, appearance, and metabolic health impact of foods and beverages.
- Prof. Dr. Justin Siegel, PhD, University of California, Davis (United States): Associate professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine and Faculty Director of the Innovation Institute for Food and Health specializing in understanding proteins and designing enzymes for diverse applications spanning many sectors, including the food and beverage industry.
The ESAB is led by EverGrain’s Global Head of R&D Steffen Münch and Dr. Harold Schmitz, PhD, ESAB chair and senior scholar in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis.
“We at EverGrain consider upcycled BSG as one of the most sustainable protein sources on Earth because it delivers high quality nutrition with a very low carbon impact,” said Münch. “Until now, BSG has gone to animal feed or simply been thrown away, so we are excited and privileged to team up with such talented scientists to increase the health and sustainability impact of this untapped super grain.”
Because of the diverse strengths of the universities each of these scientists represents, the ESAB will play a key role in supporting EverGrain’s ingredient and new product innovation pipeline.
The brewing industry generates nine million metric tons of dry spent barley grain a year. Utilizing BSG via innovative upcycling can therefore enable a future in which it is one of the most accessible, sustainable plant-based ingredients in the world.
“Being an ingredient company within one of the world’s largest brewing companies gives us the capability to scale production of upcycled barley grain— what we at EverGrain affectionately call ‘saved’ grain—around the globe,” said Gregory Belt, EverGrain CEO. “Adding some of the world’s best and brightest scientific minds to the process will accelerate our goal of helping to nourish a growing population while overcoming the resource challenges caused by climate change.”
