National potato supplier Branston has appointed Tom Seagrief as general manager of its protein extraction facility in preparation for full-scale production and commercialisation of potato protein in 2024.
Mr Seagrief initially joined the company through its graduate programme a decade ago, working in several roles and being promoted to management positions before taking his experience elsewhere. He now returns to the company.
Speaking about the appointment, he said: “I’m excited to be re-joining Branston to take on the challenge of leading the new Protein extraction facility and bringing our UK grown and processed potato protein to market. I’m hungry to keep developing and progressing in my career, and Branston has enabled me to do that through its aspirational culture and mission to continually innovate. This is a hugely important time for us, with Branston investing in driving sustainable change and better industry practices.
“The world is our oyster when it comes to the potential uses of potato protein, with the market for plant-based foods continuing to grow. I am thrilled to be part of the Branston journey as we fine-tune and scale up our operations to meet the demand for UK-grown functional protein.”
The appointment follows Branston’s multi-million pound investment into the protein factory, which is the first of its kind in the UK. It has been developed in partnership with RootExtracts Ltd and will build on research started in 2013 to extract protein from potatoes.
Jim Windle managing director of Branston, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Tom back to Branston to head up our Protein factory at this exciting time. His production knowledge and experience with high care food factory environments will be invaluable. Tom has already fully embraced our ongoing mission to utilise all of the crops we handle, and to get the best quality, and most sustainable return for the end to end supply chain from every single tuber.”
For more information go to www.branston.com
