10 | Business Canterbury - Leaft Foods T T Kim Newth Harnessing a new source of protein Rubisco powers photosynthesis and is nature’s most abundant and nutritious protein. “Within a couple of years, we plan to build a factory that will be 10 times larger. We’re confident that Canterbury has plenty of arable capacity to support further growth.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Leaft Foods is a fast-growing Canterbury company with a vision to transform the future of food by utilising a remarkable plant protein that’s contained in every green leaf. Known as the utopia protein, Rubisco powers photosynthesis and is nature’s most abundant and nutritious protein. Innovation-focused Leaft Foods has put in the hard yards to be the first to extract Rubisco at commercial scale, and is now putting it to use as a next-generation food ingredient and a highly nutritious grab-and-go fuel shot. Maury Leyland and husband John Penno (who previously founded Synlait) were looking for a way to help farmers shift towards lowerimpact, higher-value production when they realised the answer – Rubisco – was right in front of them in every green leaf. They recognised the potential of Leaf Rubisco as a new and vital source of protein. The only problem was that no-one had ever managed to successfully extract it. Maury and John were convinced it was possible and began working on their “crazy idea” in 2018. By 2019, they had formed Leaft Foods and joined forces with Ross Milne, an engineer, who had designed and built some of the world’s largest food factories. At the end of 2019, after countless trials, they had finally produced enough gel-like Rubisco extract to make a pavlova using Rubisco instead of egg whites. “It was a massive milestone,” says Maury. “We’ve since had very rapid growth and are now operating at commercial scale out of a factory in Rolleston’s iZone hub. “The location works very well for us as there is easy access to the motorway and we’re close to our growers and other businesses. We have the right processes and industrial equipment in place; everything is repeatable and integrated into the local farming system.” Leaft Foods’ ground-breaking Rubisco Protein Isolate, using Rubisco extracted from Canterbury-grown alfalfa, has a best-in-class amino acid profile, and is a highly functional protein ticking all the boxes on taste, mouth feel and digestibility. “It’s a white, creamy product that does a couple of things really well: it acts just like eggs in baking and tastes great, and also brings more protein to dairy-based products like yoghurt while achieving a creamy texture and mouth feel without graininess. “We’re super excited about the applications,” says Maury. In December 2025, Foodstuffs South Island partnered with Leaft Foods to trial Rubisco protein in place of egg protein in a range of bakery products. Leaft Foods’ other exciting product is Leaft Blade – with18g of Leaf Rubisco protein delivering the equivalent of 50,000 green leaves in every pouch – serving as a daily performance enhancer that’s engineered for rapid digestion, and offering superior daily protein and whole-body nutrition. There is rising interest from highperformance athletes in New Zealand, as well as opportunities opening up in the US sports nutrition market. Today, Leaft Foods employs 30 full-time staff and has strong connections with arable farmers in the Southbridge area, with 100ha of alfalfa currently being grown for Rubisco extraction. Organic co-products from their process are converted into silage for dairy cows that increases milk production while reducing nitrous emissions. “Within a couple of years, we plan to build a factory that will be 10 times larger. We’re confident that Canterbury has plenty of arable capacity to support further growth.” As members of Business Canterbury, Maury says they appreciate the organisation’s strategic focus on food and fibre as a very important sector in the regional economy. “We have a voice in the future of Canterbury that we might not otherwise have had, and a place at the table. Business Canterbury is telling our story and sharing it with others, and all that promotion is really helpful too. “We’re very lucky to be here in Canterbury and standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us, both in farming and in research and development.” Want to know more? GEA.com/contact Scaling with confidence. With engineering expertise across the entire production chain, GEA brings a holistic view to manfuacturing alernative proteins. The goal: help producers move from early-stage concepts to scalable, stable processes.
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