Solar Foods steps up protein plans
A protein forged from thin air is being scaled up as international interest in alternative proteins intensifies.
A snack bar containing a novel food ingredient was on the menu in San Francisco this month.
The ingredient is a new form of a sustainable protein called Solein developed by Finnish startup Solar Foods and is now part of a new product line from Finnish food manufacturer, Fazer.
Fazer's ‘Taste the Future’ line comprises a chocolate snack bar and oat-based drinks featuring the protein-rich food ingredient created from thin air by adding CO2, electricity, water, and nutrients.
According to Fazer, attendees of San Francisco's Future Food-Tech show were able to sample the products – currently available only in Singapore – experiencing firsthand the potential of air-based protein.
The US recently became the second country in the world where products with Solein have been approved as an ingredient, following in the footsteps of Singapore in 2022.
"Solein’s production is independent of weather and climate conditions, land use and large-scale water consumption, making it the most sustainable protein in the world."
Also this month, Japanese food manufacturer The Ajinomoto Group announced it would introduce to the Singapore market three icecream flavours with Solein as an ingredient. It launched the first limited-edition products of the brand, Flowering Mooncakes and Ice Cream Sandwiches, in September last year.
To meet the rising demand for Solein from food manufacturers, Solar Foods recently unveiled plans for a large-scale expansion of its manufacturing operations to ramp up production to 50,000 tonnes per year.
The startup opened its first facility in 2021 to demonstrate that Solein could be produced at scale. It said it had since commenced pre-engineering of a second site and would now also evaluate the feasibility of building two additional factories to reach the commercial production needed to meet future demand.
Solar Foods said that life-cycle analysis suggested that Solein’s environmental impact equalled just one per cent of beef production.
"Solein’s production is independent of weather and climate conditions, land use and large-scale water consumption, making it the most sustainable protein in the world," Solar Foods chief commercial officer Juan Manuel Benítez-García said.
Solar Foods was founded in 2017 as a spin-off from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University. Its novel protein, Solein, is produced through a fermentation process where microbes are fed carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and nutrients to generate a protein-rich powder. The process, developed by Finnish researchers, is inspired by natural microbial ecosystems and requires minimal land and water compared to traditional agriculture.
