Pea protein isolate

Pea protein isolate is wet-fractionated from dehulled yellow field pea (Pisum sativum L.). Pea flour is extracted in water, the starch and fibre streams are separated off, and the protein is precipitated near its isoelectric point at about pH 4.5, then washed, neutralised and spray-dried. Ultrafiltration routes are also traded and give a different mineral and flavour profile. A published survey of ten commercial isolates put mean crude protein at 80–85%, dry matter at 91.8–94.1% (so 7.5–8.2% moisture), ash at 4.1–5.0% and total fat around 5%. That fat figure is the honest difference from soy: peas are not solvent-defatted before extraction, so residual lipid is higher, and it is the main driver of oxidative flavour drift over a long shelf life. Compositionally the protein is globulin-dominated — legumin, vicilin and convicilin together account for roughly 70–80%, with albumins at 10–20%. The amino acid consequence is well established: pea is high in lysine and arginine and limited by methionine and cysteine, which is why pea-rice blends are so common in commercial formulation, rice supplying the sulphur amino acids pea lacks. Reported PDCAAS sits around 0.89 and DIAAS around 0.80, strong for a non-soy plant protein. Solubility is pH-dependent in the usual way, poorest near pH 4.5 and improving above pH 7, so acidic RTD systems need a grade chosen for the job rather than a standard isolate. The allergen position is the commercially interesting part and it is frequently got wrong. Pea is not a declared major allergen under FSSAI, US FALCPA or EU Regulation 1169/2011 Annex II — it is not on any of those priority lists. But documented cross-reactivity between pea, peanut and lupin via vicilin-family proteins means shared-line and shared-facility risk is real and should be declared factually, and lupin specifically is a listed EU allergen. Do not let a supplier state 'allergen free' without qualification. On the supply side, no genetically modified field pea is in commercial cultivation, so the material is non-GM by source rather than by segregation — a simpler documentation story than soy. Buyers shipping to the United States should also be aware that antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain pea protein from China were published on 26 August 2024; Indian-origin material is not covered, which has reshaped where the trade sources from.