Ingredion Incorporated says it is ceasing operations at its pulse crop processing facility at Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, as of this week.
The facility, which Ingredion acquired with its takeover of Verdient Foods Inc. in 2020, produces protein concentrates and flours from peas, lentils, and faba beans.
In a Jan. 6, 2025 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Illinois-based global food ingredient company says it expects to record a pre-tax, non-cash asset impairment charges of approximately US$65 million in connection with winding down operations in Vanscoy.
“The decision to cease operations of the Vanscoy manufacturing facility was made after a strategic review of this business,” Ingredion says in the SEC filing, noting around 20 employees will be affected.
Ingredion says it “expects to sell the manufacturing facility and the underlying real property but has not entered into a contract of sale as of the date of this report.”
Academy Award-winning film director James Cameron and his wife Suzy Amis Cameron launched Verdient Foods, along with plans to build the pea processing facility at Vanscoy, in 2017. At the time, Verdient said the 160,000 metric ton facility would be the largest organic pea protein fractionation plant in North America.
Ingredion, which is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, entered a joint venture with the Camerons and Verdient Foods in 2018, and acquired 100 per cent of Verdient’s shares in 2020.
The Canadian government, through Protein Industries Canada, also contributed $12.8 million to the Ingredion/Verdient business in 2020.
To the east, in Manitoba, a buyer has yet to step forward for another pea protein facility that was built around the same time as the Vanscoy facility. The former Merit Functional Foods facility, which opened in 2021, has sat unused since the company entered receivership in early 2023, owing approximately $95 million to its two main creditors — Export Development Canada (EDC) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC).
