NEW TECH FOODS

Tetra Pak has announced that its pilot New Food Technology Development Centre in Karlshamn, Sweden, is now open for business.

The centre was developed to help producers of biomass and precision fermentation-derived food products with their technical processes and offer support from experts and producers. It is open to businesses of all sizes, from start-ups and scale-ups to established companies looking to explore new food categories.

Noticing that investment in this sector is becoming increasingly difficult to secure, Tetra Pak has drawn on its expertise in equipment solutions and product formulation to ensure that the new centre can help overcome challenges with profitability.

Whether using fermentation to create functional ingredients or formulating for a direct end-use, such as meat and fish substitute products, experts at Tetra Pak New Food Technology Development Centre can support food producers in their development goals.

The official inauguration was held on 13 June, when the ribbon was cut by Tetra Pak’s executive vice president for processing solutions and equipment, Charles Brand. He led attendees in a tour of the facility, where they were able to taste test products already in development.

Brand said: “At a time when others in the industry are scaling back, we are moving forward, and the Tetra Pak New Food Technology Development Centre represents our most significant commitment to fermentation-derived foods yet. We believe in the need to develop New Food sources to feed a growing population, but we understand that scaling New Food products is a step into the unknown.”

The centre offers two programmes to food producers. These include the Process Evaluation programme, aimed at companies ready to move from lab-scale production to demo scale, or seeking more efficient methods for large-scale production. The other programme, Productivity Validation, looks to support companies with established production processes looking for validation and improvement of their process performance.

Through the Technology Development Centre, food producers can also collaborate with other Tetra Pak product development facilities in Lund to achieve desired food properties and functionalities, trial different final product formulations, and develop brand or product identity to create an effective go-to-market strategy. This close collaboration can speed up time-to-market and improve process efficiencies.

Brand continued: “We know food. We know equipment. Start-ups are struggling with translating production to food-scale, and we know how to do that, using our extensive food production experience and development centre network to support our customers in upscaling from prototypes to production lines. New Food innovation shouldn’t be viewed as aspirational; it’s about delivering practical solutions that can put food on shelves around the world today.”

Top image: © TetraPak