CONTROL DE PORCIONES SA

Their core work

COPOSA is a Spanish food industry SME based in Navarra — a region with a strong food manufacturing tradition — whose name ("portion control") points directly to their core business: commercial food portioning and processing. In EU research consortia, they serve as an industry partner that validates whether alternative protein sources can be integrated into real food production workflows at commercial scale. Their participation in two successive protein-focused projects suggests they supply the industrial reality-check that laboratory research requires: what can actually be manufactured, portioned, and sold. For research teams developing new food proteins, COPOSA represents the commercial endpoint between lab result and market-ready product.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first project (PROTEIN2FOOD, 2015–2020), COPOSA's focus was tightly defined around specific underutilised crops — quinoa and legumes — as sustainable protein ingredients, with no indication of broader food technology concerns. By their second project (SMART PROTEIN, 2020–2024), the keyword profile expanded dramatically to include microbial biomass protein, food technology, food and drink processing, food quality and safety, regenerative agriculture, and molecular biology. This signals a clear shift from ingredient-specific crop research toward a systems view of the alternative protein value chain, spanning production technology, safety standards, and sustainability.

COPOSA is moving from specific crop-based protein research toward the broader alternative protein ecosystem — including microbial sources and regenerative food systems — making them an increasingly relevant industry partner for any consortium combining food processing with next-generation protein ingredients.

How they like to work

COPOSA has participated in both projects as a consortium member, never as coordinator, which is typical of an industry SME that contributes production expertise and end-user validation rather than project leadership. Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 48 unique partners across 20 countries — an unusually wide network for an SME of this size — indicating participation in large, well-connected EU consortia. This pattern suggests they are valued as an industrial anchor in research-heavy consortia, not as a research driver.

Through just two projects, COPOSA has worked alongside 48 unique partners spanning 20 countries, reflecting their membership in large, internationally diverse H2020 research consortia. There is no visible geographic concentration — their network is broadly European.

What sets them apart

COPOSA's differentiator is the pairing of commercial food portioning and processing operations with demonstrated engagement in alternative protein research — a combination that is rare among food industry SMEs. Research consortia working on new protein ingredients need exactly this kind of industrial partner: one that can test whether a lab-validated protein source can survive the realities of food manufacturing, portioning, and safety compliance. For scientists and project builders in the alternative protein space, COPOSA offers a direct line to commercial food production in a key European food region.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PROTEIN2FOOD
  Their largest project by far (EUR 309,062 received), it placed COPOSA at the frontier of plant protein research years before quinoa and legume-based foods became mainstream industry topics.
• SMART PROTEIN
  Represents a significant broadening of scope — adding microbial biomass protein, regenerative agriculture, and food technology — showing COPOSA's evolution beyond crop-specific research into the full alternative protein value chain.