POS Biosciences study backs borage pressed cake as protein ingredient

A by-product from borage oil extraction is starting to look less like leftover material and more like a usable protein system. POS Biosciences says its new study shows borage pressed cake carries nearly 32% protein on a dry-weight basis, with heat stability plus water-holding and oil-holding properties that ingredient developers look for when they need structure, moisture retention and processing tolerance.

The peer-reviewed paper, published June 2, 2026, in Sustainable Food Proteins, is titled “Profiling and Characterization of Seed Storage Proteins From Borage (Borago officinalis L.) Pressed Cake as a Novel Plant-Based Protein Source.” POS Biosciences says the work was carried out under its Borage360 initiative and is the first scientific study focused on borage seed proteins, a notable gap for a crop better known for its oil than for its meal.

That oil remains the crop’s main calling card. Borage is cultivated primarily for seed oil, one of the richest known plant sources of gamma-linolenic acid, or GLA, and it has long found use in nutritional, dietary and functional food formulations. But the new work shifts attention to the pressed cake left after mechanical extraction, a co-product POS Biosciences says has stayed relatively underutilized despite its protein content.

The scale case is part of the appeal. Company data from Bioriginal indicate that between 2020 and early 2025, about 559 metric tons of borage seeds were processed, yielding roughly 388 metric tons of pressed cake. That kind of volume is not enough to remake the protein market on its own, but it is enough to matter if the material can be turned into a functional ingredient with uses across food, feed and aquaculture.

That broader application window is important because novel proteins usually need more than one buyer category to justify collection, processing and formulation work. The study’s findings line up with a wider industry move to treat oilseed press cakes and meals as ingredients rather than waste streams, especially as earlier research points to sharply rising global demand for animal protein by 2050 and a growing interest in upcycled protein sources.

The development also fits the research ecosystem in Saskatoon, where the University of Saskatchewan Department of Plant Sciences works closely with the Protein, Oil and Starch Pilot Plant. POS Biosciences says that local collaboration has helped anchor ingredient-development work around secondary crop streams, even as borage itself remains relatively underrecognized in the wider market. Randy Fournier, president and CEO of the Bioriginal Group of Companies, said the company’s multi-decade investment in borage breeding and development has built a foundation for growth while global interest in GLA oil continues to create new opportunities in borage co-products.

For protein developers, the significance is straightforward: if a residue can deliver a heat-stable, functionally useful protein system, it strengthens the case for circular agriculture with commercial performance attached. In a market where sustainability claims now have to survive scrutiny in the mixer, the retort and the balance sheet, that combination carries real weight.