Nourish Ingredients Signs European Manufacturing Deal to Scale Up Animal-Free Dairy Fat

Australian fermentation startup Nourish Ingredients has teamed up with SD Guthrie to expand production of its dairy-free fat, Creamilux, in Europe, with an eye toward reaching hundreds of tonnes annually over time.

As it works to close its latest fundraising round, Canberra-based Nourish Ingredients has notched a major partnership to scale up production of its animal-free fats.

The startup, which uses precision fermentation and enzymatic processing to make “designer fats” that can replace animal lipids, is working with specialty lecithin producer SD Guthrie to accelerate the manufacturing and commercialisation of Creamilux, its dairy fat alternative.

The deal pairs Nourish Ingredients’s technology and IP with the latter’s manufacturing scale, lipid expertise and European infrastructure to enable a “low-risk, quick-to-market pathway” to delivering a reliable and scalable supply of its fat in Europe and other key markets.

It marks a significant step in expanding the fermentation startup’s European footprint and customer traction, coming a year after it announced the establishment of its global commercial hub in Leiden, Netherlands. That facility is now fully operational with a focus on sales and product applications, according to co-founder and CEO James Petrie.

“We’ve recently brought on a new commercial advisor and portfolio manager as we push harder into sales. The SD Guthrie run adds real volume behind that operation,” he tells Green Queen.

“Our customer demonstration and commercial teams now have commercially manufactured Creamilux to put directly in front of European food manufacturers and other key global customers. Together, a commercial front door and proven industrial-scale supply gives us the platform we set out to build in the EU.”

Partenrship eyes annual volumes of 100 tonnes

Precision fermentation involves inserting a specific DNA sequence into microorganisms to instruct them to produce the desired molecules when fermented. Nourish Ingredients leverages Mortierella alpina to produce fats that provide the distinct flavour and cooking properties of animal fats for use in plant-based and blended meat and dairy applications.

Creamilux enables manufacturers to create products with the same mouthfeel, taste and emulsification properties of conventional dairy fats. It comes in powder form, is enriched with short-chain fatty acids, and is effective at ultra-low inclusion rates.

The collaboration with SD Guthrie has already resulted in a 10-tonne industrial production run at the latter’s Dutch facilities in a matter of days, and the existing infrastructure has the capacity to be scaled up to 20 tonnes a day.

According to Nourish Ingredients, that industrial scale is proof of the platform’s robustness and scalability, enabling high-volume production without the lengthy scale-up, contamination risks, and cost challenges often associated with precision fermentation.

The two partners plan to expand production in line with customer demand, with ambitions of reaching hundreds of tonnes of output per year.

“This 10-tonne run is an important step in validating the process and seeding the market,” says Anna El Tahchy, founding director and CTO of Nourish Ingredients. “As customer demand builds, we expect to scale rapidly to 100-tonne-per-year volumes, followed by 500 tonnes and beyond over the next two to three years.”

Nourish Ingredients lays out launch plans for animal-free fats

Aside from Creamilux, Nourish Ingredients makes Tastilux, a meat-like fat that facilitates the Maillard reaction and gives products an aroma, taste and cooking experience akin to meat.

It’s working with Chinese synbio firm Cabio Biotech to scale up and streamline its production, and completed its first industrial-scale manufacturing cycle last year. Asked why Nourish Ingredients chose to centre Tastilux production in Asia and Creamilux in Europe, Petrie highlights two reasons for the latter.

“The first was regulatory: we can already sell Creamilux directly into this market. The second came down to finding the right manufacturing partner for each ingredient’s process: SD Guthrie’s specialty lipid manufacturing infrastructure was the right technical fit for Creamilux,” he says.

“Cabio Biotech in China offered that same fit for Tastilux. In both cases, we went with the partner who already ran the closest process at scale, and the geography followed from that.”

Creamilux is approved for sale in both the EU and Australia, while Tastilux can be sold in the US, with the latter’s microbial strain determined to be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) last year. The FEMA GRAS determination opens the door to global markets in which it’s recognised.

The startup is eyeing other markets too, including Singapore and the Middle East. It has partnership agreements for Tastilux in the US, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, and has teamed up with New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra to create both dairy and plant-based products with Creamilux.

“We expect to see the first products on shelves within the next six months. Tastilux will be first to market, in a plant-based chicken application, with Creamilux following soon after in alternative dairy,” reveals Petrie. “In the interim, we’ll also be selling through direct ingredient B2B sales channels. Our customers will bring the products to market through their own retail and foodservice channels.”

Nourish Ingredients has raised nearly $40M to date and is working to secure a further $15M to boost its commercial operations and profitability. “That process is well underway and we hope to close it within the next few months,” Petrie says.