Enifer’s commercial-scale biomass fermentation facility in Kantvik, Finland, should become operational in the second half of this year, says the firm, which just teamed up with Finnish petfood firm Rovio to launch semi-moist dog treats made with Enifer’s PEKILO mycoprotein.
“We are currently in discussions with multiple customers across different categories in pet and food applications. Interest is global, with a particular focus on Europe for pet food and North America with human nutrition,” claimed CEO Simo Ellilä, who said Enifer will be sharing samples this week at Interzoo, a leading trade fair for the pet industry.
“This is a key milestone for us as it enables consistent production at scale, customer deliveries, and continued cost optimization,” he told AgFunderNews.
From petfood to human nutrition
Enifer—which has partnerships with key players in feed and food including Skretting, the aquafeed division of Nutreco; petfood giant Purina; and dairy giant Valio—says the collaboration with Rovio is “primarily about validating PEKILO in real commercial applications, looking at functionality, palatability, and how the ingredient performs in production.”
The move follows a 60-day dog feeding study, in which PEKILO showed “high digestibility, strong palatability, and no negative impact on stool quality,” with “early functional signals related to immune activity and oxidative balance,” claimed Ellilä.
The next step is to “expand into broader product formats and higher-volume applications” with Rovio, which has white-label capabilities for international customers, he said. “Our goal is to establish PEKILO as a widely used ingredient across pet food categories, and ultimately across food categories in human nutrition.”
Lower-cost feedstocks
As the Kantvik facility is located at a sugar refinery, the first phase will utilize sugar industry streams as feedstock, said Ellilä, who said the firm had just completed its first four-ton commercial production run.
“But as we move ahead, a key target within our partnership with Valio is the utilization of dairy side streams, mainly lactose. The flexibility of using different feedstocks is one of the key strengths of our technology, as it allows production to be adapted to local resource streams. That in turn improves both sustainability and unit economics.
“The biggest opportunity we see is not only in replacing existing ingredients, but in redefining how protein is produced more broadly and how we can be part of the solution for the food and agri-industries in solving and creating value from side streams.”
With this in mind, Enifer recently teamed up with Brazilian ethanol giant FS to explore using thin stillage—a side stream from corn ethanol production—as a feedstock.
“Completion of the [500-ton/year] demonstration plant is foreseen by year-end,” said Ellilä. “Our partnership is focused on exploring how PEKILO production can be integrated into corn refineries. The demonstration plant is designed to validate lab and pilot scale data and answer key questions around process integration with the main corn refinery, feedstock processing, and overall economic performance.”
Proven at industrial scale
PEKILO mycoprotein was in commercial production from 1975 to 1991 as a source of feed for pigs and chickens. It is produced by the fungal strain Paecilomyces variotii KCL-24, which was historically fed with spent sulfite liquor, a byproduct of paper making.
Enifer—which was spun out from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in 2020—has upgraded the process to work with a broader range of feedstocks.
A protein- and fiber-rich powder with a neutral taste and color that can be shipped at room temperature, PEKILO is initially being targeted at pet food and aquaculture. This will be followed by human food applications from meat and dairy alternatives to snack bars, says the firm, which has made regulatory filings in the US, UK, EU and Singapore.
“In the US, our dossier was submitted to the FDA in March this year after we achieved self-affirmed GRAS status last year,” said Ellilä.
“We see great long-term opportunity in food applications, particularly in areas such as healthy snacking, where there is strong demand for high-quality, sustainable protein and fiber, which both are combined in PEKILO. It also contributes to formulation through its texture and binding properties, which is particularly relevant in snacks and processed pet food products.”
