Solar Foods Inches Closer to EU Approval of Solein Gas Protein

Finnish food tech company Solar Foods has secured a positive scientific opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recognising its Solein gas protein as safe for use, the final step before it can enter the EU market.

During a year when it entered the US market, secured $89.1M to build its second factory, and joined the Deep Space Food Consortium, Finnish firm Solar Foods has achieved another major milestone.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a positive scientific opinion describing the company’s gas-derived protein, Solein, as safe under the proposed conditions of use.

Solar Foods produces the deep-yellow powdered protein by feeding microbes on carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen instead of sugar. In its risk assessment, the EFSA’s Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens concluded that Solein raised no safety or genotoxicity concerns, taking it one step away from commercialisation in the EU.

The EU Commission will now draft an implementing act based on the EFSA’s scientific opinion to incorporate Solein into the bloc’s novel food catalogue. Once approved, it can be sold across the region, with no individual authorisations required for any of the member states.

That process is expected to take seven to nine months, an estimate Solar Foods said was based on “recent novel food authorisation timelines”. Dutch startup The Protein Brewery, for instance, received a positive EFSA opinion for its whole-cell Fermotein protein last December, before obtaining approval in June.

EFSA opinion set to accelerate commercial agreements for Solein

Solar Foods grows microbes in a liquid form, in a process that eliminates the need for farmland, water for irrigation, and fertilisers and pesticides. They’re then dried into a flavourless powder that has 78% complete protein, 6% fat, and 10% dietary fibre, and a macronutrient profile akin to dried soy or algae.

Solein has a mild flavour, making it an ideal base for a variety of products, and has been described as the “most sustainable protein” on Earth. Since the main raw materials here are CO2 and renewable energy, it generates just 1% of the greenhouse gases emitted by meat and 20% that of plant proteins.

Solar Foods currently produces Solein at its demo plant, Factory 01, in Vantaa, which is set to reach a capacity of 230 tonnes this year. Factory 02, expected to begin operations in 2028, will produce 12,800 tonnes of Solein annually.

The protein can be scaled up to these industrial levels without relying on farming cycles, ensuring a year-round supply and production in climates like the desert, the Arctic, and even outer space.

The company, which received the aforementioned $89.1M financing from Business Finland for the implementation phase of Factory 02, said the completion of its funding package and binding customer agreements are among the key prerequisites for the final investment decision on the Lappeenranta facility.

The positive EFSA opinion is expected to accelerate ongoing offtake negotiations into these binding agreements, removing a critical regulatory uncertainty affecting commercial discussions.

“This is a defining moment for Solar Foods, as the positive opinion enables us to advance our offtake negotiations, financing and preparations for the final investment decision for Factory 02,” said Solar Foods CEO Rami Jokela. “After years of proving the technology, product and production process, our focus is increasingly on commercial execution and scaling the business.”

Ahead of Fazer launch, Solar Foods eyes €7B market for Solein in Europe

The Finnish company is targeting CPG giants and the health and performance sector in Europe, with several major brands already in concept and recipe development or having defined launch details. The total addressable market for Solein is anticipated to be €7B in Europe by 2030 (and €11B in the US).

“Europe is one of the world’s largest and most attractive protein markets, and a strategically important market for Solein,” said Jokela. “We are already in discussions with major international food companies, and the positive EFSA opinion enables us to advance these discussions towards commercial agreements. Solein offers a compelling value proposition for food manufacturers in Europe.”

One of those manufacturers is Finnish food giant Fazer, an investor in Solar Foods. The former launched the first consumer product (a snack bar) featuring Solein in Singapore through its Taste the Future brand in 2024, and also trialled a snack and protein oat milks in the US last year.

Fazer is now preparing to launch Solein-powered products in Europe next year, viewing the ingredient as a promising option to complement existing protein sources in several food and drink categories.

Heli Anttila, VP of research and product development at Fazer Group, called Solein “one of Finland’s most exciting food innovations”, which can “open new opportunities for the Finnish food industry and exports”.

“EFSA’s positive scientific opinion of the food safety of Solein protein is a significant milestone towards the commercialisation of the ingredient in Europe. We have the readiness to launch Solein products for consumers as soon as the final regulatory approval is granted in Europe,” she said.

Solar Foods has also signed a supply agreement worth up to €500,000 with Italy’s KelpEat, which will buy 27 tonnes of Solein through to the first half of 2028.

Solein is already cleared to sell in Singapore, where it’s available in desserts and bean-free coffee drinks via a partnership with Ajinomoto’s Atlr.72 brand, and the US, where it’s part of Ambrosia Collective’s protein powders and has signed deals with Superb Food, Fermenta, and Pothos’s PRVL brand.