Zyrcular Foods is a global provider of sustainable solutions in alternative protein. Founded in 2018, Zyrcular Foods is today one of the main alternative-protein producers in Spain. With cutting-edge facilities located at the gates of a biosphere natural reserve, a team of 15 professionals come together to work on different areas such as Foodtech, R&D, food production, nutrition and gastronomy. Together, they develop, produce, distribute and assess new sources of protein, and create delicious local products with a global scope, under a sustainable, fully integrated and completely open model.
Zyrcular Foods is the first business in Spain to achieve certification for the BRCGS Plant-Based Global Standard. Speaking of this tremendous achievement Santi Aliaga, CEO of Zyrcular Foods commented: “Spain is a food country. We produce good food, and we love to eat good food. To be pioneers on this certification in such a cutting-edge sector as the plant-based protein one, is really something to be proud of. We really hope other companies will follow this path in the future too
A solution to business challenges
As a new facility, Zyrcular Foods saw BRCGS certification as a solution to their biggest challenges as a business: “The most significant challenge we faced as a business was avoiding cross-contamination with animal proteins in our supply chain. Most of our providers work for all kinds of food companies, including animal-using ones. That’s the reason why we needed to establish exhaustive and highly[1]demanding controls and procedures among them. We chose BRCGS certification because we wanted to offer the utmost assurance to our customers. BRCGS is the only one that certifies exclusively vegan facilities and it is a well-known seal of approval in the industry. Also, implementation of the standard requirements is logical and was suitable for the proper control of our processes, which was very important to us”.
Implementing the Standard
In preparation, the Quality Team completed the BRCGS Plant-Based training course to ensure they fully understood the standard and the BRCGS certification process. Following this, they then embarked on their journey to certification. In implementing the requirements of the standard, the most important objective for Zyrcular Foods was to build robust processes that ensured full control of their plant-based operations: “We went through our whole process pipeline step-by-step, phase after phase, adapting and redefining the plant, and identifying all key points to test it”.
The process of implementing management system certification in itself provides a lot of benefit and Zyrcular Foods found as a result of this process they streamlined all processes and really enhanced their control procedures in relation to suppliers and raw materials.
Looking to the future
Being certificated to the BRCGS Plant-Based Global Standard is a relatively recent achievement for Zyrcular Foods so whilst data-based results are still unknown, from a qualitative point of view, they strongly believe in the value of BRCGS certification and the trust it instils for their customers. It demonstrates to customers that the Zyrcular Foods facility is 100% vegan and they are confident in the commercial opportunities this provides: “We expect solid growth in the future, as we can now have objective proof of our commitment to quality, safety and sustainability. It demonstrates that we are a business that can be relied upon and trusted”.
Top tip for other businesses
“We would recommend taking the BRCGS Plant-Based training course in preparation to ensure success. During the implementation phase, we would also suggest paying high attention to your supply chain and providers”.
Find out more about BRCGS Plant-Based Certification here.