Austrian food-tech start-up Revo Foods has unveiled ‘Food Fabricator X2,’ the “world’s first” industrial production method for 3D-printed foods. The 3D process is set to enable new product categories for the first time, such as authentic whole-cut meat alternatives or products with customised shapes, structures or textures. Featuring a novel multi-nozzle system, this innovation enables continuous food production, which Revo Foods says marks the first time that mass production of products is possible with 3D food printing technology. Using a high-precision extrusion system, different ingredients can be combined with each other in any predefined structure, enabling the production of previously “impossible” products. The technology enables the new food industry segment of “mass customisation” for the first time, meaning the flexible control of product parameters such as sizes, shapes, materials or texture, without the need for hardware adjustments during the process. A new area of application is the customisation of texture palettes for plant-based meat alternatives. The controlled integration of a fat component into a plant-based protein fibre matrix is essential for whole-cut meat alternatives such as steaks or fish fillets, though Revo Foods says that this has not yet been achievable with any other technology at a large scale, until now. Robin Simsa, CEO of Revo Foods, said: “3D food printing on an industrial level allows us to change the way we think about food. Products that were previously very exclusive and more likely to be found in gourmet restaurants can now be produced on a large scale. I am excited about the new creative opportunities that open up to food product developers with the help of this technology.” As a proof-of-technology, in September last year Revo Foods launched ‘The Filet – Inspired by Salmon,’ as reported by The Plant Base . The Filet used the technology for the first time – Revo FFX1 – marking the first scale-up of its 3D printing system. Revo Foods claims that the salmon fillet alternative, which is based on mycoprotein, was the “first 3D-produced food available in supermarkets”. To increase production capacity and meet demand, Revo Foods has announced its first public investment opportunity in the form of digital company shares. Using the capital, the company’s first stage of upscaling will be completed over the next two years, with expected completion in 2025. An investment in Revo Foods is possible until 18 April 2024. At the start of the first public investment round, the company has already raised €435,000, which it says underscores the public interest in the new technology and the company’s mission. Investments in Revo Foods can be made through German green-tech investment platform FunderNation. #3Dprinting #Europe #Austria #plantbasedmeat #RevoFoods #Plantbasedseafood

Austrian food-tech start-up Revo Foods is launching a 3D-printed vegan salmon fillet in Rewe stores, claimed to be the world’s first 3D-printed food product to hit supermarket shelves. The salmon-inspired product marks a milestone for both 3D-printed food and vegan seafood. Its main ingredient is Promyc, a mycoprotein ingredient developed by Swedish start-up Mycorena, using filamentous fungi. Promyc was engineered by Mycorena’s food scientists to specially suit the application for 3D-printing purposes, a first-of-its-kind application for mycoprotein. The development was supported by €1.5 million of European funding through the Eurostars 3 programme, with co-funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. Promyc contributes most of the protein to the Revo fillet including all essential amino acids, healthy fibres composed of beta-glucans as well as B vitamins and important minerals such as Zinc and Calcium. It also has a Nutriscore rating of ‘A’, due to high protein and Omega 3 content. According to Revo Foods, Promyc’s mouthfeel and taste profile allow it to authentically imitate the experience of a piece of salmon thanks to the fibres naturally formed by Mycorena’s fungi mycelium, offering a “structure unlike anything other seen in the market today”. Paulo Teixeira, chief innovation officer at Mycorena, said: “The collaboration between Revo and Mycorena allowed the adaptation of the Promyc production process to achieve required characteristics fitting Revo’s 3D-MassFormer technology, as well as any other 3D printing application”. “With this, Mycorena’s mycoprotein products are fully fitted to an emerging manufacturing technology that we believe will play a key role in the future of food.” Revo Foods’ new extrusion technology is designed to enable seamless integration of fats into a fibrous protein matrix, leading to a new generation of seafood alternatives with the typical ‘flakiness’ and juicy fibres of fish fillets. Utilising its patent-pending 3D-MassFormer technology, Revo Foods claims to have created the first-ever continuous production process capable of mass-producing 3D-printed food. “With the milestone of industrial-scale 3D food printing, we are entering a creative food revolution, an era where food is being crafted exactly according to the customer needs,” said Robin Simsa, CEO of Revo Foods. “We are not just creating a vegan alternative; we are shaping the future of food itself.” The official launch into the European retailer Rewe will take place tomorrow (14 September 2023). Customers across Europe can also order the product at Revo Foods’ online shop from 1 October. #3Dprinting #Mycorena #Plantbasedseafood #RevoFoods

Alongside the industry heavyweights famed for pioneering the plant-based category, smaller businesses with big ambitions are also championing the future of sustainable, animal-free food. The Plant Base’s new Start-up spotlight feature will put a well-deserved focus on these earlier-stage businesses, celebrating new plant-based innovation. This month we speak to Hermes Sanctorum, CEO of Paleo, an innovative company using precision fermentation to create animal-free, species-specific myoglobin proteins. The company even managed to recreate the heme protein of a mammoth, an animal no longer in existence on this planet! Read on to find out more. Can you outline the company’s core objectives and long-term vision? We use precision fermentation to make highly functional ingredients to create a real meat experience. We strongly agree with the analysis that in order to convince more people to reduce meat consumption, you need to make a great alternative. To do so, we develop myoglobins that exist in actual conventional meat. From a practical point of view, you can dream about everyone becoming vegan but it needs to work, you really need to address people’s needs and what they treasure. The meat experience is part of it, so we address it in a different way. We are developing a B2B company, so we produce a highly functional ingredient – myoglobin – and our potential clients can manufacture their final product using it. How is Paleo innovating in the space? As far as I understand it, we are the only company that develops myoglobins that are identical to what you would find in meat, of different species, and then as a GMO-free product. That last part is important. I know of course that there are other players that try to make proteins in an intracellular way, but we make sure that our ingredient does not contain any recombinant DNA and that’s an important one for European markets. Then, of course, you have the portfolio of different myoglobins that we are developing, including the mammoth one – that gets the strongest attention! We of course focus on other myoglobins, but the mammoth is a showcase of what you can do, you can even make an extinct animal protein – what better way to prove that we are animal-free? Why the focus on myoglobins? Myoglobins are present in a very low concentration in conventional meat, but it is a really powerful ingredient and it has that same effect in plant-based food. There are also differences among myoglobins from different species, so it’s a really interesting protein. It was an obvious choice to work with. There are other parts that also matter in that meat experience that are complementary to what we are doing. For instance, there are a lot of companies now that focus on animal fats through precision fermentation or cultured cells. I don’t consider those competitors. We are all complementary to making a fantastic product to decrease meat consumption. How does your fermentation process work? We make sure that our yeast perform under extracellular secretion. That’s how we make sure that the protein is outside the cells, then we separate the yeast cells and the myoglobin in a rather easy way. You don’t have to go through expensive purification steps to make sure that all kinds of debris is out of it, or especially recombinant DNA, so in the end we have a very pure myoglobin that is of great interest to the industry. What challenges have you faced? Commercially there is a great interest in our myoglobins, there is a lot of interaction with potential clients. The biggest black box, in fact, is the regulatory framework. I call it a black box because there is regulation but we are not 100% sure how long it is going to take to come out of it. I’m quite sure that in the end our myoglobins are safe and will be authorised, I don’t doubt that. The time is a big question mark – I get that question a lot of course, when will we be commercially available. That will depend on the regulator. We are currently assessing which region to start in and which track we are going to follow. What are your plans for the future? What do you hope to have achieved? Our major goal is to decrease meat consumption, so that means that Paleo, together with other companies should have a great commercial activity, our ingredients will be manufactured in a lot of products for the whole world. That’s the major goal for me. Of course I have investors on board who also have financial expectations, but for me that’s the long-term view of the company – it needs to have a positive impact on the planet. What is your biggest achievement so far? From a technological point of view, I am of course proud of the fact that we are able to recreate that mammoth protein, especially as a GMO-free product. When we started to develop that process, we really didn’t know whether we could do it. The more financial part is that we managed to close a venture round in economically difficult times. We did an investment round in February this year with some really highly recognised parties like DSM-Firmenich Venturing, a major player in the ingredients business, and Planet A Ventures. They asked for an independent lifecycle analysis and made sure that we had the positive impact that we claimed. If the LCA was negative, they wouldn’t have made the investment, so that was quite a credibility check for us. DSM-Firmenich would never have invested in us had they not tasted our product and it hadn’t been good! They are tough in their expectations, but it makes you proud. It truly works, and deserves the investment and potential that we see. #alternativeprotein #Belgium #Paleo #StartupSpotlight

US-based biotech company Pureture has developed a plant-based protein that it claims provides ‘comparable benefits’ to traditional dairy proteins in supporting muscle recovery and growth. Many single-source plant proteins lack certain essential amino acids, such as leucine, isoleucine, valine (BCAAs) and methionine. However, Pureture said its ‘breakthrough’ new yeast protein offers a complete amino acid profile, on par with dairy-based proteins such as whey and casein. The development aims to address common limitations of plant-based proteins and offer emulsification properties similar to casein, as well as enhancing the protein’s absorption capabilities. Currently, the start-up is working to improve the yeast protein’s taste and aroma through proprietary strain development. It plans to initiate fundraising efforts as it approaches its small-scale production phase, and welcomes collaboration with investors and organisations with a goal of advancing the alternative protein sector. Pureture’s non-GMO protein can provide a solution for vegans and those with lactose intolerance, as well as any consumer focused on muscle development. Leveraging the company’s casein alternative emulsification technology, Pureture has developed a clean label protein shake that contains minimal ingredients including the yeast protein, cocoa and water, with zero sugar. Rudy Yoo, CEO and founder of Pureture, said: “We are excited to introduce a plant-based protein that meets the performance standards of animal-based proteins. As a New York-based company, Pureture is proud to provide a sustainable, clean-label option that supports muscle development and meets the growing demand for healthy plant-based alternatives.” #Pureture #US #alternativeproteins

Swedish plant milk company Sproud has announced that British television presenter and entrepreneur, Maya Jama, has become an investor and co-owner of the brand. In a statement shared yesterday (29 October 2024), Sproud revealed that Jama will become a strategic advisor and a ‘face’ for the brand as it continues along its growth trajectory, amid increasing demand for more nutritious dairy-free milk options. Sproud’s drink is crafted using yellow split peas, and is low in sugar, high in protein and contains no common allergens. According to the brand, it offers an improved nutritional profile and a lower environmental impact than other popular dairy alternatives, such as oat-based milks, recognised by carbon accounting tool CarbonCloud as having the ‘lowest climate impact’ on the market. Headquarted in Malmö, Sweden, Sproud employs a team of 15 split between its headquarters and an office in London, UK. Alongside Jama, its investors include VGC Partners, a growth capital investor based in London; Findeln Holding, a Malmö-based, family-owned investment company in which Sproud co-founder Nicklas Jungberg is a majority shareholder; and Swedish investment group Dream Beverage. Sara Berger, Sproud’s CEO, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Maya as a co-owner, brand ambassador and advisor. Our aim is to significantly increase Sproud’s brand awareness in the UK and beyond, and Maya will help us further normalise plant-based choices for everyone – whether in the supermarket aisle or at the coffee shop counter.” Jama commented: “I'm really excited to become a co-owner of Sproud. There's a lot to love – the products taste amazing and the packaging is eye-catching too, but ultimately I like what the company stands for in terms of health and sustainability.” #Sproud #Sweden #UK

US-based tofu brand Hodo Foods has introduced a new line of high-protein tofu meal kits, launching in three trending Asian flavours. The Saucy Tofu kits contain Hodo’s extra firm organic tofu with two sauce packets, ideal for pairing with vegetables, grains and noodles to create a convenient and nutritious meal that can be served in minutes. Available in Thai Red Curry, Japanese Teriyaki and Korean BBQ flavour options, the meal kits aim to make it easy for consumers to cook tofu as interest in the soya-based protein source rises. Thai Red Curry contains flavours of coconut, ginger and lemongrass, while the umami-packed Japanese Teriyaki offers a blend of sweet and savoury tamari-infused flavours. Finally, Korean BBQ mixes savoury sesame notes with a touch of sweetness and ginger. “While sales of meat alternatives are flatlining, interest in tofu continues to grow as consumers gravitate towards plant-based foods that are healthy, minimally processed, and taste great,” said Minh Tsai, Hodo founder and CEO. “In Asian cultures, it is common to cook meat and tofu together for a hearty, protein-rich meal. We encourage omnivores, flexitarians, vegetarians and even meat lovers to add these yummy and easy tofu entrees to their everyday meals.” The meal kits offer 17g of plant-based protein per serving and are made with no artificial flavours. They are also cholesterol- and preservative-free, as well as being gluten-free, vegan and certified organic. Hodo’s Saucy Tofu Kits are now available at Whole Foods, Good Eggs, Misfits and Imperfect Foods stores in the US. #Hodo #US #tofu

Finnish alt-dairy specialist Oddlygood has announced its acquisition of British plant-based drinks, cereals and snacks brand Rude Health for an undisclosed sum. Oddlygood was launched by dairy company Valio in 2018 and became a spin-off in 2021, offering a range of oat, soy and almond drinks as well as alternatives to cheese, yogurts, cooking products and desserts. Following its success in the Nordics, the company launched in the UK in June 2023, and is now looking to grow its presence in the country – described as a key territory for the brand – through its acquisition of Rude Health. In six years, Oddlygood has grown to an anticipated turnover close to €50 million this year. Rude Health was founded in 2005 by Camilla and Nick Barnard. The company’s portfolio of products is now available at major retailers and foodservice operators throughout the UK. Rude Health also opened a café in London in 2016. The BCorp-certified brand is on track to deliver £28 million in revenue in 2024, its biggest year yet. Through the deal, Oddlygood will establish a base for its UK operations and support both brands’ UK and European expansion. Rude Health will continue to produce its portfolio of products, which includes granola, muesli and milk alternatives. Tim Smith, CEO of Rude Health, said: "Joining forces with Oddlygood opens up new opportunities for growth and innovation, and our shared missions around taste, quality and the crucial role of plant-based food and drink make this a natural fit". "We’re looking forward to working together and leveraging our strengths, and making the healthy choice a celebration – not a sacrifice – for our customers. It’s an exciting new chapter for the brand and the team." Niko Vuorenmaa, CEO of Oddlygood, said that Rude Health and Oddlygood’s "strong alignment" will be key to the success of Oddlygood’s ambition to become a leading plant-based company in the UK and Europe, thanks to their complementary portfolios, target audiences and capabilities, allowing both brands to grow alongside one another. He commented: "Rude Health is one of the biggest success stories in British plant-based food. It’s nothing less than impressive the way the team has grown its product range alongside such a distinctive and well thought of brand to deliver commercial success." "What we’ve achieved with Oddlygood in such little time is down to the expertise and passion of our team. We’ll focus the same attention and care to Rude Health and we’ll work in partnership with the team there to build on its reputation as a high quality and loved brand and partner." This latest announcement marks the second recent acquisition for Oddlygood, following its purchase of Nordic plant-based brand, Planti, in 2023. With value sales in the UK dairy alternatives market forecast to increase by 50% over the next five years according to Mintel data, Oddlygood aims to capitalise on the country’s opportunities for innovation and increase its market share within the UK plant-based drinks category (valued at £511 million by Nielsen) through its deal with Rude Health. Vuorenmaa added: "The UK market is notoriously competitive with established leaders, but we believe that bringing these brands and teams together will reinvigorate the market and re-engage both new and existing users of plant-based products. We have total confidence in the future of the UK and European markets and the quality of the brands and the products now in our portfolio." #Oddlygood #RudeHealth #UK

Italian plant-based cheese brand Dreamfarm has announced the launch of a brand-new plant-based alternative to ricotta. Made from almonds and cashews fermented through a patented process, Dreamfarm’s ricotta product aims to provide a high-quality plant-based alternative to the popular dairy-based cheese, designed to offer an ‘authentic flavour and creamy texture’. It can be enjoyed in both sweet and savoury recipes, from lasagna to desserts. Dreamfarm has partnered with two Milanese foodservice venues, Giardì and Essenza Sus, both of which will create exclusive recipes featuring the new product, demonstrating its versatility in wide-ranging culinary applications. Giovanni Menozzi, CEO of Dreamfarm, commented: “We chose to launch ricotta as our next product because it is another iconic Italian food, alongside mozzarella, and is extremely versatile in both sweet and savoury dishes”. He continued: “Our aim is to provide a product that helps vegans and flexitarians create delicious recipes without relying on dairy. It’s also a fantastic product to enjoy on its own, or simply added to a salad or pasta.” The product will also be available in retail, initially exclusively at Esselunga stores in Italy, before beginning a roll-out to other European markets next year. Following its exclusive retail launch with Esselunga, distribution will expand to select Conad stores and select 100% vegan stores, Dreamfarm confirmed. The new launch marks a key step in Dreamfarm’s expansion both in Italy and internationally, where the brand’s existing range – including mozzarella and stracciatella alternatives – is also stocked at retailers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. “We are very pleased with the success we’ve seen abroad," added Menozzi. "We will continue to focus on improving sales performance in international markets, and we already have plans to introduce new products at the beginning of 2025.” #Dreamfarm #Italy

The Good Food Institute (GFI)’s new analysis of previously unpublished Circana retail sales data shows that sales of plant-based foods in six European countries grew by 5.5% to €5.4bn last year. Nonprofit think tank GFI Europe found that the total amount of plant-based products sold across the six countries – Germany, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and France – grew between 2022 and 2023, despite a challenging period for F&B. Germany, which is currently Europe’s largest market for plant-based foods, showed continued growth across most product categories. The overall volume of sales also grew in Spain and France. Sales remained stable in Italy, while in the Netherlands and the UK, sales declined – although the GFI highlighted that the slow-down began to level off throughout 2023 and the early months of 2024. Analysis of separate household panel data suggested that plant-based milk and meat have now become ‘mainstream’ options in several European countries, GFI said. Data revealed that 37% of households in Germany, 33% in the UK and 19% in Spain bought plant-based meat at least once last year, while more than a third of German and British households, and 40% in Spain, bought plant-based milk at least once. Sales of plant-based milk and drinks grew by 7.1% in value to reach €2.2 billion. As a proportion of all milk sales, these products took a market share of between 4.6% in France and 9.8% in Germany. The value of plant-based meat sales increased by 3.9% to €2 billion. While overall unit sales also increased, the volume of sales measured by weight decreased by 3.2%, thought to be linked to inflation and plant-based meat’s higher price compared with traditional meat products. Some countries were shown to be making progress toward price parity with animal-based products – price differences shrunk in Germany and the Netherlands, although they saw a slight increase in Spain. Several sub-categories saw increasing demand. Plant-based cream sales increased in value across five of the countries (data for Spain was not available) by 24% to €138 million, with the category’s performance linked to falling prices. Plant-based cream is now cheaper on average than branded conventional cream in both Germany and the UK, GFI found. Plant-based cheese sales increased in value by 7% to €194 million. The volume of sales grew by 24% in France, 34% in Spain and 33% in Italy. The value of plant-based yogurt sales grew across all six countries between 2023 and early 2024, while the value of plant-based seafood sales grew by 10% in Germany and the UK. Plant-based ready meals, desserts and ice cream all showed declining sales – GFI noted that this could be due to cost-of-living pressures, leading consumers to reduce consumption of non-essential and convenience items. Helen Breewood, research and resource manager at GFI Europe, said that Europe’s plant-based sector has continued to make headway despite a “difficult few years” for the broader food industry. She commented: “Our analysis finds that lower prices and higher quality can power the growth of these more sustainable options, so policymakers and manufacturers should continue to invest in innovation and infrastructure to develop tastier, more affordable products capable of building a diversified, resilient and healthy European food system”. #GoodFoodInstitute #GFIEurope #UK #Italy #Germany #Spain #Netherlands #France

Famous for its distinctive, vivid yellow colour, the canola plant (also known as rapeseed) is the world’s third leading source of vegetable oil. But it’s now also being used to create a whole new generation of healthy and sustainable plant-based products – with an appetising texture and taste. Vertis CanolaPRO is not like other   plant-based proteins. For a start, it’s created via a patented DSM-Firmenich process that extracts the leftover protein-rich 'cake' (or meal) that was traditionally a side stream used either for agricultural fertiliser or animal feed. As a result, this unique ingredient is now officially recognised by the Upcycled Certified Program as being the only  commercially available upcycled protein with a nutritionally complete PDCAAS = 1 rating. In fact, this non-GMO, 90% native protein isolate contains all the essential amino acids; and it’s free from major allergens (dairy, gluten, soy); kosher and halal; and created from EU-sourced seeds. A game-changer in sports nutrition One key area of opportunity for Vertis CanolaPRO lies in the sports nutrition segment – where the vegan protein powder market alone is forecast to reach $8.8 billion by 2032; and vegan protein bars are expected to grow with a CAGR of 18% from 2023 to 2033. The key for manufacturers looking to tap into this opportunity? The ability to provide vegan sports nutrition products that taste good, feel good –  and provide both the right quantity and quality of protein. In ready-to-mix and ready-to-drink protein drinks, for example, Vertis CanolaPRO is helping to create winning, protein-packed products that taste great – without the aftertaste, lumps and grittiness that consumers so often associate with them. Meanwhile, in nutritional bars, Vertis CanolaPRO provides appetising texture and high nutrition – to the point where the professional Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL cycling team now uses the product to help drive tangible improvements in key areas like focus, endurance, resilience and recovery.   Delicious dairy, fish and meat alternatives Beyond sports nutrition, Vertis CanolaPRO is ideal for plant-based dairy thanks to its high solubility (even at low pH), good emulsifying properties and gelling behaviour. It can therefore be easily blended into plant-based milk, yogurt and ice cream alternatives to deliver a smooth, creamy mouthfeel and neutral taste. It can also be used in meat and fish alternatives to improve the texturization of other ingredients – for example, legume proteins, in both wet and dry extrusion. The result: an improved bite and greater resilience that resembles real meat  – in everything from plant-based burgers and sausages to vegan salmon cakes, crab meat and tinned tuna. Bringing progress to life Vertis CanolaPRO is just one of many nutritious, delicious, sustainable and label-friendly solutions from DSM-Firmenich that are all based on one simple premise: today’s consumers shouldn’t have to choose between what tastes good, what feels good, and what’s good for them – and the planet.  Vertis CanolaPRO is proof positive that it’s possible to tick all three boxes: and bring progress to life for plant-based brands and consumers everywhere.   Discover Vertis CanolaPRO . #DSMFirmenich

Kaiser, a new frozen oat-based dessert brand based in Canada, has launched onto the Canadian market. The brand was founded by Nathan Kaiser, a farmer bringing expertise in harvesting small-batch oats in the heart of Noyan, Quebec. His family have been dedicated to field crop production for over 40 years. Kaiser’s oat-based, vegan product line-up includes family-sized (946ml) tubs and round chocolate-dipped bars available in boxes of four. Flavours include mint chip, cookies and cream, chocolate fudge, salted caramel, vanilla and banana chocolate. The range is also mostly gluten-free, except for the cookies and cream flavour. It is crafted using oat beverage, rather than powdered oats, to deliver a creamier texture and ‘premium’ experience. Founder and president, Kaiser, commented: “I took my personal experience and family background in farming to determine where we’d source our oats in Canada. I love the fact that we handle the production in our own factory so we can control the taste, texture and overall experience that we want our customers to have.” By early 2025, the brand will move production to a brand-new, 45,000-square-foot factory designed exclusively for plant-based, frozen desserts. “The quality of our oats, our eco-friendly and sustainable methods of production, and of course, the delicious frozen desserts are all part of my mission to deliver the best tasting products for Canadians to savour and share with their family and friends,” Kaiser added. Currently available at select grocers in Quebec, Kaiser will expand into the Greater Toronto area later this year and nationwide in 2025. #Kaiser #Canada

Deep-tech spin out company from the UK’s University of Leeds, MicroLub, has closed a £3.5 million seed investment round. The funding will enable the company to commercialise its patented technologies for fat replacement, texture enhancement and nutrient delivery. The start-up says it will use the funds to advance product development with collaboration partners, scale the technology with co-manufacturing partners and build out the team. MicroLub’s plant based, protein microgel behaves like natural lubricants and can be used as a fat replacer and texture enhancer in plant based foods, as well as in human applications, such as to replace saliva for people with dry mouth. Fats and oils make foods texturally appealing and tastier, by adding ‘lubricity’ and a creamy mouthfeel. MicroLub's ingredient technology solution that adds lubrication through unique scaffolds made of protein and water, coated with polysaccharides. This structure mimics the ‘fatty sensation’ of full-fat products, adding texture, richness and succulence in low-fat or plant-based applications. In a statement provided to FoodBev Media, MicroLub CEO David Peters, said: "Our innovative approach focuses on leveraging cutting-edge science to pioneer the next generation of protein technologies, to develop proprietary ingredient solutions which dramatically reduce molecular friction. We do this by adding lubrication to food products, using protein microgels coated with polysaccharide hydrogels." Peters continued: "We are not looking to remove the entire fat content of a product – our technology requires there to be some present - but we can significantly reduce the fat content without any noticeable change to texture or mouthfeel. In addition, we enable our customers to remove thickeners and emulsifiers from their products, thereby shortening their ingredients lists and creating clean label products." "Our technology works across a very wide range of food applications- everything from plant-based burgers to low-fat indulgent desserts. It is especially effective in reduced-fat and plant-based foods, which historically have struggled to achieve anything like their full sales potential, because of issues around texture, mouthfeel and astringency. Baked goods, spreads and confectionery are among the other categories in which we have customers working with our technology." Using this technology, MicroLub will enable its customers to make their food products healthier, as well as contributing to sustainability by addressing the alt-protein industry’s current challenge of making plant-based foods less astringent. Anwesha Sarkar, founder and CTO of MicroLub, said: “When we discovered the technology and tested lubricity, we knew it had many potential applications, which we can now explore further and commercialise with this investment”. Peters added: “Our advanced protein technology is a real game-changer when it comes to fat replacement. It enables our customers to reduce the fat content and calorie count of their products by up to 75% without any noticeable sensory change in mouthfeel and texture.” #MicroLub #fats #UK