Vivien Paille opens up new prospects for the legume industry

“Our objective is to expand beyond commodity rice and pulses with value-added products from the French supply chain that meet consumer expectations. Rather than a simple dry lentil, offer a French green lentil that can also be extruded into pregelatinized flour to add to culinary ingredients, for example. Beyond the bags for rapid cooking of rice, we are also developing complete vegetarian dishes in microwaveable pockets, with a high proportion of organic ingredients.”

Thierry Lievin, General Manager of Vivien paille

“In particular, we are working with the Group’s vegetable protein R&D teams on a technology for manufacturing protein concentrates from legumes along with its market applications. Together with Lesieur, we are developing recipes for vegetable dishes as part of a meal, sourced in France, that are healthy, nutritious, and can be stored at room temperature. We are also looking to diversify into Camargue rice, in order to revitalize this sector and contribute to redeveloping the cultivated areas.

The Group is also undertaking major investments to develop Vivien Paille and improve the safety of its teams. At the Valenciennes site, investments will enable us to increase our milling capacity by 50% starting in 2023 for pulse and rice flours intended for the industrial markets. On the out-of-home catering market, a new packaging line is due to be opened providing us with 25% additional capacity. Finally, in Arles, the rice husk boiler is scheduled for refurbishment, to transform our by-products more efficiently into renewable energy. These investments, together with the confidence with which we operate within the Group, and the healthy balance between our three industrial markets, FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), out-of-home catering (Food Service) and Supermarkets (Supermarkets and hypermarkets), leave me feeling confident about the future!”

Thierry Lievin, General Manager of Vivien Paille