The rising demand for protein is strongest in the United States at present, but innovation is moving rapidly halfway across the world in Asia to meet this growing need.
Thai protein powerhouse Betagro has just launched its new Chicken Made Noodle product, winning one of 10 top spots in the coveted ThaiFex–Anuga tasteInnovation Awards this year.
“Betagro’s expertise has always been in protein and especially poultry, so the bigger question for us has always been how to present protein to consumers in a different, attractive format to stand out among the rise of protein products everywhere,” Betagro Trade Marketing Director Pimporn Srisantisaeng said at the ThaiFex-Anuga Asia 2026 show in Bangkok, Thailand.
“We have been working a lot on expanding our processed foods and ready meals portfolio, and with the rise of the protein trend we landed on the idea that the concept of offering consumers a way to easily consume double protein in a normal meal would be very attractive — and the way to do this is to put the protein into the noodle itself.”
The concept of Chicken Made Noodle is quite literally in the name — it is produced via extrusion just like regular noodles are made, but just using chicken breast meat instead of flour.
“Every 100g serving of the noodle gives 13g of protein, and if it is consumed as a regular noodle as say, in a green curry chicken dish, the curry itself would also come with chicken meat. 100g of chicken breast meat gives 20g of protein, so together this meal would give the consumer around 33g of protein, very substantial for their needs,” she added.
“We believe that the double protein concept will appeal strongly to consumers that are really looking to add protein to their diets, and many are indeed looking for high protein options what with the protein trend growing very quickly in this region.”
Why noodles?
Protein has undoubtedly been the star ingredient for functional and nutritional product development in many categories in recent years due to the rise in consumer awareness, especially in the beverage and snack categories.
Staple foods like rice and noodles have had somewhat less of a focus due to the nature of these often being perceived as ‘the base to add protein to as a side dish’ especially in Asia — but Betagro believes that the opportunity and potential here is massive.
“Noodles were our format of choice mainly because most consumers are familiar with this, not just in Asia but all over the world,” Srisantisaeng said.
“This makes it much easier to approach them with such a novel product, and indeed our initial export targets are places like Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines where familiarity is especially high so it will be easier to start entering retail here.”
Western markets like Europe are also on the company’s radar for this, but the United States is likely to take somewhat longer to penetrate despite the highest demand for protein there due to challenging regulations surrounding chicken exports into the market.
Moving to food
Betagro’s core business has been in poultry, which has enabled it to grow its presence to over 20 international markets from Japan to Europe.
Having firmly established itself in this area, the firm is now looking to evolve to focus on food as a whole, hence the desire to increase its export portfolio of ready meals and processed items.
“New innovations such as Chicken Made Noodle are what we hope is a good way to move beyond just being seen as a poultry company to a food company instead,” she added.
“Some other major products paving the way for us to do this are appetisers like gimbap which has a convenience focus; the Soul Sweet range of Asian desserts like banana fritters based on Thai street food which allows us to showcase our Thai roots; and the Soul Spice range of Asian-style frozen foods.”