Leaft Foods has achieved a significant milestone by extracting Rubisco protein from green leaves at a commercial scale. For over a century, scientists struggled to harness Rubisco’s full potential without damaging its fragile structure. This breakthrough changes that, enabling the use of this abundant leaf protein for food applications.
Rubisco is the most common protein on Earth, found in every green leaf. Despite its abundance, extracting it without losing its functional properties was impossible—until now. Leaft Foods developed a process that preserves Rubisco’s integrity, unlocking its nutritional and functional qualities.
This achievement is more than scientific progress; it could lead to a new, sustainable protein economy. Their “utopia protein” is complete, outperforming whey in amino acid profile, digestibility, and functionality. It also produces 97% lower carbon emissions than traditional protein sources.
The company’s operations are based in Canterbury, New Zealand. Local family farmers like Andrew Bailey and Tim Ridgen grow lucerne, or alfalfa, using sustainable and regenerative farming practices. These partnerships demonstrate how advanced food technology can work hand-in-hand with environmentally friendly agriculture. They ensure high-quality raw materials and ecological benefits.
In 2024, Leaft Foods launched a 30,000-square-foot commercial facility. It produces about one tonne of product weekly, proving the feasibility of their technology and business model. They are already supplying functional ingredients to B2B customers. Additionally, they soft-launched Leaft Blade, a performance nutrition product. It delivers protein absorption up to six times faster than traditional options.
Despite challenges in the alternative protein sector, Leaft Foods focused on solving core scientific problems. Their platform extracts maximum value from 100% of harvested leaves. This transforms what was once waste into multiple revenue streams. Their innovation paves the way for a scalable, sustainable protein industry rooted in regenerative farming.
