Run by operators. Guided by independent expertise.
We back our execution with independent expertise — chosen for rigour, not for letterhead. Advisors are engaged where it matters: validating the science, pressure-testing our regulatory position, and challenging our claims before our customers do. Advisors advise; they do not run the company. Their role is to make sure that what we tell food producers, regulators and investors is grounded in evidence, not assertion.
We keep the advisory group small and active. Advisors are named, with a defined remit, because guidance is only worth disclosing if it is real. They bring independent standing across food and crop science, sustainability and life-cycle methodology. Our executive team owns the operating reality, our advisors test it from the outside.
Professor Derek Stewart is a scientific advisor to UPP, bringing independent academic authority to the science that underpins our ingredients. He is Director of the Advanced Plant Growth Centre, a £27M flagship programme at the James Hutton Institute, and Co-Director of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), where he leads the PRODUCE pillar focused on unlocking nutritious, functional proteins from plants and other natural feedstocks. Professor Stewart holds the (now honorary) Chair of Food Chemistry at Heriot-Watt University.
Over a career of more than 30 years at the industry–academia interface, Professor Stewart has specialised in crop composition and the valorisation of agricultural side-streams — the proteins, fibres and natural compounds conventionally discarded as waste — which is precisely the foundation of UPP's business. His expertise spans plant metabolomics, raw-material composition, ingredient functionality and the biocircular economy, backed by more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and leadership of national and international research programmes.
Remit: Professor Stewart advises on ingredient science, fractionation and side-stream valorisation.
What he brings to UPP: independent scientific credibility at the exact point our claims need it — the technical validation of brassica fractionation, the functionality and nutritional characterisation of our protein and fibre ingredients, and the life-cycle and Scope 3 methodology behind our environmental claims. Through NAPIC and the "Brotein" project, he connects UPP's harvest-to-ingredient platform to peer-reviewed science and comparative data against established proteins such as soy and pea. Professor Stewart's institutional relationships are reflected in our research partnerships. For our customers and partners, his involvement signals that our science is grounded in independent, rigorous evidence — not internal data alone.
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© 2026. All rights reserved.
Upcycled Plant Power ('UPP') Limited
trading as "UPP" and "Freya"
Company number: 14171122
VAT Number: 428 2222 17
Registered address:
Agri-Tech Centre
Poultry Drive, Edgmond,
Newport, Shropshire
United Kingdom TF10 8JZ
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Broccoli is a natural source of vitamin K and contains folate, potassium and beta-carotene, a provitamin A carotenoid. Our Fiba, Bynda and Prota products are a source of fibre, making them nutritionally valuable ingredients.
"Allergen-free" refers to the absence of the 14 allergens requiring declaration under UK/EU FIC. See here for our Allergen statement.
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