Hero afbeelding
Hero afbeelding
Hero afbeelding
Hero afbeelding

The plant is our hero

Founded 125 years ago, Royal Cosun has developed into a leading international agricultural cooperative with more than 8,100 sugar beet growers.

Our mission is to unlock the full potential of plants in a transparent and circular way and to convert them into valuable, sustainable solutions. Our vision The Plant Positive Way is based on the foundation of almost 125 years of Cosun’s history in the successful valorisation of arable crops such as sugar beet, chicory and potatoes in a divers portfolio of products with added value. Examples include various potato products, plant-based proteins and dietary fibres. In this way we ensure that more and more people enjoy healthy and tasty food and products with a positive impact.

With our products and ingredients, we respond to societal challenges and transitions related to climate change, the replacement of fossil raw materials, the protein transition and the growing demand for food and healthier food ingredients. We believe that plants can be the solution to these challenges. In our strategy we describe how we want to achieve our ambitions.

Our strategy
“Together we unlock the full potential of plants”

Plant-based solutions

Plants have unlimited potential for food, food ingredients, animal feed, biobased ingredients and green energy. We turn this potential into concrete and usable solutions for every day.
Discover our solutions
Plant-based solutions

Our stories

Our plant-based activities and innovative product applications help us tackle major sustainability challenges and transitions facing today’s economy and society.
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Employee portrait: Leo Pingen
Lifestyle
Since 1899, we have been processing our crops into everyday products. We have grown into an organisation with over 8,000 members and tens of thousands of employees and suppliers. Together, we unlock the full potential of plants to produce smart solutions for current and future generations. In a series of portraits, we talk with our members and employees. Today, we talk to Leo Pingen, senior product manager and product developer at Aviko Rixona.
Employee portrait: Leo Pingen
Employee portrait: Arie Petter
Lifestyle
Since 1899, we have been processing our crops into everyday products. We have grown into an organisation with over 8,000 members and tens of thousands of employees and suppliers. Together, we unlock the full potential of plants to produce smart solutions for current and future generations. In a series of portraits, we talk with our members and employees. Today, we talk to Arie Petter, service engineer at WTB Sensus, Zwolle.
Employee portrait: Arie Petter
Chicory root fibre: Versatile with prebiotic power
Lifestyle
Fibre has a positive effect on your health, and on your gut health in particular. This also applies to chicory root fibre, known as inulin, the dietary fibre and prebiotic extracted by Sensus from chicory root. Not all fibres, however, are prebiotics, and prebiotics are quite different to probiotics. One thing they do have in common is their beneficial effect on the function of your gut. Veerle Dam, Health Science & Regulatory Affairs Specialist at Sensus, outlines the differences between prebiotics and probiotics. She also explains when a fibre qualifies as a prebiotic, and how Sensus is gaining insights into the health effects of chicory root fibre.
Chicory root fibre: Versatile with prebiotic power
Grower portrait: Arwin Bos
Lifestyle
Since 1899, we have been processing our crops into everyday products. We have grown into an organisation with over 8,000 members and tens of thousands of employees and suppliers. Together, we unlock the full potential of plants to produce smart solutions for current and future generations. In a series of portraits, we talk with our members and employees. Today, we speak with Arwin Bos, Arable Farmer and Chairman of the Board at Cosun.
Grower portrait: Arwin Bos
Yeast forms tomorrow’s plant-based snack
Protein transition
Cosun Protein is developing plant-based proteins that can take over the functions of animal proteins in foods, mainly proteins from milk, egg yolk and chicken egg white. Cosun Protein's fava bean protein, Tendra, provides texture in plant-based alternatives for yoghurt, cheese and baking products. In its search for a replacement for chicken egg white, Cosun invested in Wageningen-based revyve. This foodtech scale-up extracts a functional protein from yeast, which it says is building the texture of tomorrow's food: locally sourced, circular, recognisable and with a low carbon footprint.
Yeast forms tomorrow’s plant-based snack
Tendra: A building block for an active lifestyle
Protein transition
The demand for plant-based alternatives is increasing. This is also the case in active nutrition, the segment aimed at consumers with an active or sportive lifestyle. Common products include protein shakes based on whey protein extracted from dairy. These shakes mainly consist of protein powder, which means that the search for a plant-based alternative needs to focus on both taste and texture. Ricky van Beers, Technical Sales Specialist at Cosun Protein, sees Tendra as a gamechanger for plant-based active nutrition that scores well on both aspects. We talked to him about the opportunities for Cosun Protein’s fava bean protein.
Tendra: A building block for an active lifestyle
Plant-based enjoyment thanks to cooperation and beets
Protein transition
Consumers are highly prepared to try plant-based products. Making it all the more important to convince them by offering them tasty products. As part of its ‘celebrating veggie’ strategy, Aviko is working with Cosun Beet Company and others on new, flavourful vegetable products using Fidesse®, an ingredient based on the sugar beet. Aviko Innovation Director Willem Fijten and Senior Product Manager Snackables Manfred Keizer talk about the new Aviko falafel burger and the development of other plant-based products based on Fidesse®.
Plant-based enjoyment thanks to cooperation and beets
Cosun SCO2RE+: Identifying Scope 3 emissions
Climate
SCO2RE+ is the Cosun-wide programme to reduce the organisation’s CO2 emissions. The programme is serving as a boost and connector within the organisation, to set, monitor and achieve our goals. Under Scope 1 and 2, Cosun set the goal of reducing CO2 emissions across the entire organisation – which include, for example, direct emissions and energy procurement - by more than 45% by 2030 compared to 2018. Cosun is also committed to identifying and reducing indirect emissions, which fall under scope 3. We spoke to Bertram de Crom (Programme Manager Climate & Sustainability at Cosun), Aizo Verdonk (Junior Sustainability Specialist at Cosun) and Gerwin Beukhof (Sustainability Coordinator at Aviko) about the approach for scope 3.
Cosun SCO2RE+: Identifying Scope 3 emissions
Plant-based alternative to yoghurt, without a beany aftertaste
Protein transition
Can you make a plant-based alternative to yoghurt with a neutral taste as well as a good texture? Thanks to the fava bean, you can! From this sustainably grown legume, Cosun Protein extracts Tendra: the protein isolate that ticks all the boxes. Celine Cantineau is an Application Technologist at Cosun Protein. She’s developing new applications with Tendra, for example for use in dairy alternatives. We spoke to Celine about her recipe, fermentation and the future of the fava bean in plant-based applications.
Plant-based alternative to yoghurt, without a beany aftertaste
Cosun SCO2RE+: From climate ambition to climate action
Climate
SCO2RE+ is the Cosun-wide programme to reduce the organisation’s CO2 emissions. In line with the Paris Agreement and the 2019 Dutch Climate Agreement, Cosun has set the goal of realising a 50% net CO2 reduction compared to 2018 by 2030, and to be climate neutral by 2050. With the SCO2RE+ programme, all the efforts of the various business groups regarding energy and CO2 emissions come together in one overall initiative. Within the Netherlands, and across all of the company’s sites abroad. We discussed the programme with Johan Dijkstra, senior innovation manager at Cosun Innovation, and Bertram de Crom, Climate & Sustainability programme manager at Cosun Innovation.
Cosun SCO2RE+: From climate ambition to climate action
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Working at Cosun

Do you want to join the more than 4,000 professionals in the daily pursuit of a sustainable plant-based future? Visit our Careers website to browse interesting vacancies.
Your career at Cosun
Working at Cosun
“It's fascinating that we can derive high-quality protein from field beans”