Louisville, KY-based Victory Hemp Foods has entered into a strategic partnership with Austin, TX-based Applied Foods Sciences, a company known for its innovation in functional, organic ingredients in the natural products industry. AFS is a supply partner with many top food and beverage brands worldwide.
 
Victory Hemp’s partnership with AFS is intended to elevate sales and marketing for its food and beverage ingredients, including V-70 Hemp Heart Protein and V-ONE Hemp Heart Oil. Both products are slated for introduction at the IFT Conference in July 2020, in Chicago, IL.
 
The two new ingredients deliver the nutritional benefits found in hemp while providing a neutral flavor and color. The unique formulation characteristics can solve challenges for formulators across a broad range of product applications, the company said. AFS will provide marketing and sales presence as well as technical support, including formulation expertise and customer service.
 
Victory Hemp founder and CEO Chad Rosen expressed excitement about the partnership.
 
“AFS has a well-earned reputation as a leader in the food ingredient space for the development of functional ingredients and working closely with their supply chains to scale them sustainably for all stakeholders,” Rosen said. “This partnership will allow Victory Hemp to apply all of our focus and resources on developing processing infrastructure and building a healthy supply chain as we work together to bring hemp back to the front row in American Agriculture.”
 
“As hemp continues to earn a more significant role in U.S. agriculture, and the demand for plant-based proteins continues to rise, we recognize the opportunity to develop new ingredients that can fully utilize the industrial hemp plant to deliver novel high protein ingredients,” Loretta Zapp, CEO of Applied Food Sciences, said. “We are excited to partner with Victory Hemp Foods. WE believe in their leadership, vision, and expertise in processing hemp seed and admire their deep commitment to this agricultural endeavor.”
 
AFS recently opened a new Innovation Center at the University of Iowa’s Bio-ventures Research Park. There, AFS develops novel, natural, and organic ingredients that are scientifically qualified, non-GMO, and GRAS. One of the primary goals at the Innovation Center is to help foster the growth of plant-based food science.