Pea Protein Now Has a Passport: What NordPea Means for Canadian Shelves

Lantmännen and Ingredion launch NordPea, a Swedish pea protein isolate, as Chinese isolate faces duties in Canada, the U.S. and now the EU. For Canadian health retailers, the origin of the isolate in a plant protein tub now sets its cost, its heavy-metal risk and whether its protein claim holds.

By Olivier Fel., November 13, 2026

Three trade blocs tax Chinese pea isolate and Europe is building its own. Stores that know where their plant protein starts can price it, test it and label it with fewer surprises.

Photo by Jean-Michel GARCIA on Unsplash

Since 25 September, Chinese pea protein entering the European Union pays anti-dumping duties of 40.5 to 67.1 per cent. Canada and the United States had already walled it off. Swedish cooperative Lantmännen’s answer is NordPea pea protein isolate, made from Swedish-grown peas with Ingredion and launching at Fi Europe in Frankfurt on 17 November. On a Canadian shelf, the origin of the isolate in a plant protein tub now moves three things: the invoice cost, the heavy-metal file and the label claim.

Pea protein is still a mid-sized ingredient market. Global Market Insights values it at US$731.1 million in 2025, rising to US$1.7 billion by 2035, and notes that supply stays tied to Canadian yellow-pea availability. That link to the Prairies is the thread running through everything below.

Chinese pea isolate now hits a wall in three markets

Verdict: the era of the cheapest isolate is closing, and plant protein tubs will reprice.

Canada moved first among the three. The Canada Border Services Agency opened its dumping and subsidy investigation on 22 April 2024 and issued final determinations on 21 October 2024. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal found injury on 19 November 2024, so duties stay until the finding is rescinded.

Washington issued its own anti-dumping and countervailing orders on 26 August 2024, with combined rates reported at 125 to 286 per cent. Brussels added provisional duties on 29 April 2026 and made them definitive for five years in September.

Not every Chinese exporter is covered. Canada terminated its dumping case against four exporters and its subsidy case against one. A buyer cannot assume duty status from the country on the label alone; the exporter name decides it. (IHR covered the same mechanism in Canada’s citric acid duties.)

For a store, the consequence lands at the next cost update. A brand that built its price point on low-cost isolate now chooses between a dearer source, a thinner margin or a smaller scoop.

NordPea pea protein isolate competes on traceability

Verdict: Swedish isolate will compete on origin story and taste, while Prairie plants dwarf it on volume.

NordPea will come out of a €100 million plant in Lidköping, south-west Sweden. The site is built to process about 40,000 tonnes of peas and faba beans a year into roughly 7,000 tonnes of isolate. That works out to about 175 kg of isolate from every tonne of crop.

The European Investment Bank lent €50 million, about half the cost. Start-up is set for the first half of 2027, after the 2022 plan had pointed to early 2026. Lantmännen positions NordPea for ready-to-drink beverages, ready-to-mix powders and dairy analogues, on the strength of a neutral taste.

Scale puts this in perspective. Roquette’s plant in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, can process 125,000 tonnes of yellow peas a year, more than three times Lidköping’s intake. Merit Functional Foods also makes pea isolate in Winnipeg, using Burcon’s extraction technology.

The Swedish volume is therefore aimed at European brands that want a short, auditable supply chain. When those brands export to Canada, “grown in Sweden” will arrive on the pack as a selling point.

Canada grows the peas, then ships most of them away

Verdict: Canadian-grown isolate is an under-told shelf story sitting next to a 1.2 million tonne surplus.

Canada harvested 3.9 million tonnes of dry peas in 2025, up 32.1 per cent, and most of that crop goes to animal feed. By 31 July 2026, dry pea stocks had climbed 141.7 per cent to 1.2 million tonnes.

China explains much of that glut. Its 100 per cent tariff on Canadian peas, imposed in March 2025, shut a market that took 1.6 million tonnes worth $743 million a year on average. In 2024 Canada supplied 42 per cent of China’s pea imports. The tariff is suspended only from 1 March to 31 December 2026.

Here is the catch. Canadian peas shipped to a Chinese plant can return as isolate that meets Canada’s own duties at the border. Meanwhile, the domestic plants that would process them sit a day’s drive from the fields.

For merchandising, that makes “Prairie-grown pea protein” a credible origin claim where the supplier can document it. It belongs on shelf talkers only when the isolate maker and crop origin are both on paper. Origin claims are already reshaping another aisle, as the Canadian organic market shows.

Canada is the world’s largest pea producer, yet a plant protein tub on a Canadian shelf can hold isolate made from Prairie peas that went to China and back.

Origin is also a heavy-metal question

Verdict: ask for a lot-level lead result, not a reassurance email.

Consumer Reports tested 23 protein powders and shakes in October 2025. More than two-thirds exceeded its daily lead threshold of 0.5 micrograms. Plant-based products averaged nine times the lead of dairy powders and twice that of beef powders, and every plant protein tested was pea-sourced.

The threshold comes from California’s Proposition 65, stricter than federal guidance, and manufacturers note that lead occurs naturally in soil. That is precisely why crop origin matters. Lead enters plant proteins through soil and water, so a different field can mean a different result.

One brand flagged in the testing, Vega, has since been renamed and reformulated with North American pea. That move tells a buyer what the category’s sourcing teams believe.

A shopper choosing a plant tub over whey is the shopper most likely to ask about this at the counter.

The protein claim on the tub is a maths problem

Verdict: “complete protein” copy imported from U.S. listings needs checking before it goes on a Canadian shelf.

Canadian protein content claims depend on quantity and on a protein rating. Health Canada and the CFIA began accepting PDCAAS (a score that corrects amino acid content for digestibility) alongside the older rat-growth method in 2020. The PDCAAS method has since been written into the rules.

A “source of protein” claim needs a protein rating of 20, and “excellent source” needs 40. Pea’s limit is methionine. In a 2015 study, pea protein concentrate scored 0.89 on PDCAAS and 0.82 on DIAAS, the stricter newer score. Whey isolate scored 1.00 and 1.09.

Blending fixes much of the gap. Pea and rice blends containing 40 to 90 per cent pea can reach a PDCAAS of 1.00 for adults, which is why so many plant tubs pair the two.

A second label rule now applies to the ready-to-drink formats NordPea targets. A protein drink or bar with added vitamins, minerals or amino acids is a supplemented food. Since 1 January 2026, every one must carry the supplemented food facts table.

Four moves before the 2027 supply arrives

Map your plant protein set by isolate origin. Ask each supplier for the isolate maker and crop country for every SKU, and flag any with Chinese isolate for repricing risk.
Request a lead, cadmium and arsenic certificate for the current lot. Keep it on file for the top five plant SKUs and recheck when the lot changes.
Audit protein claims against the protein rating. Remove “complete protein” or “excellent source” wording that the brand cannot support with a Canadian rating.
Give Canadian-grown isolate its own shelf story. Where a brand documents Prairie peas and a Canadian processor, say so on the talker and price it as the premium it is.

Lidköping starts up in 2027, and China’s pause on the pea tariff ends on 31 December. Both dates will reach pea protein invoices well before most shoppers hear about them.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

What is NordPea?

NordPea is a pea protein isolate from Swedish cooperative Lantmännen, developed with Ingredion. It uses peas grown by Lantmännen’s member farmers in Sweden and is aimed at protein drinks, ready-to-mix powders and dairy alternatives. Lantmännen describes it as having a clean, neutral taste.

When will NordPea be commercially available in volume?

Volume production depends on Lantmännen’s plant in Lidköping, Sweden, scheduled to start in the first half of 2027. Brands sampling it now are developing formulas. Canadian retailers should expect NordPea to reach shelves inside imported European products rather than as a stand-alone ingredient sold in stores.

Does every Chinese pea protein shipment pay Canadian duties?

No. Canada’s measures cover high-protein-content pea protein but exclude texturized pea protein and one specific protein drink product. Four Chinese exporters were cleared of dumping and one of subsidizing. Importers should check the exporter’s name against the Canada Border Services Agency’s measures-in-force page.

Is pea protein a complete protein for label purposes?

Pea protein contains all essential amino acids but is low in methionine, so its digestibility-corrected score sits below whey. A tub blending pea with rice can score higher. In Canada, the claim wording must match a calculated protein rating, so request the brand’s rating documentation before using “complete” on a shelf talker.

This is independent editorial analysis. It references NordPea as one example of a wider shift in pea protein sourcing and is not an endorsement of any product or supplier. Retailers should verify claims, protein ratings and contaminant testing directly with each brand.

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