Nourish Ingredients, an Australian startup creating novel fats via fermentation, is establishing a global commercial hub at BioPartner 5, Leiden, the Netherlands, which is set to be fully operational by 2026.
The new facility will house R&D, a demo kitchen, product development, customer demonstration facilities, and commercial operations, said the firm, which says having a base in the Netherlands will allow Nourish to work more closely with European partners.
Using its new European hub as a launch pad, Nourish expects to finalize additional strategic partnerships with leading food manufacturers worldwide in the coming year, said cofounder and CTO Anna El Tachy, who has relocated to Leiden to lead Nourish’s European operations.
She told AgFunderNews: “While our regulatory focus has been on the US and Asia, Europe is a central market because it hosts a large number of dairy and food businesses that are key to our growth pipeline.
“While our commercial base will be within the EU, we see this as a launchpad into a variety of markets, with many of our key target companies operating out of the EU, while servicing neighboring markets.”
Tastilux and Creamilux
Founded by James Petrie and Ben Leita in 2020, Nourish has developed two core product lines.
Tastilux is claimed to deliver an “authentic animal taste and aroma” at very low inclusion rates in meat alternatives, prepared meals, snacks, spices and condiments while Creamilux is a lipid claimed to replicate the mouthfeel, taste and emulsification properties of dairy fat.
Tastilux is the more advanced of the two, says the firm, which recently struck a deal with Chinese biomanufacturing co CABIO Biotech whereby CABIO will manufacture Tastilux at commercial scale and handle sales and distribution in China.
When it comes to Creamilux manufacturing, said El Tachy, “While we can’t share official details yet, we’re preparing for our first commercial-scale run with our partner. This will follow a similar trajectory to our work with CABIO for Tastilux. This is certainly a priority area for us and something we are investing resources into.”
Nourish recently struck a deal with dairy giant Fonterra to explore the potential of Creamilux “as a key ingredient to unlock functionality while preserving the delicious taste of traditional dairy” across a range of categories including cheese, cream, and butter. The partners will also explore opportunities where Creamilux can enhance non-dairy categories such as bakery that traditionally rely on dairy fats.
Nourish has secured FEMA GRAS* status in the US, and is going through the regulatory process in the EU, China, and other markets, said El Tachy. “We are hoping to have the path forged for these markets within the next 12 months.”
On the commercial front, she said, “We expect to finalize our first sales in the coming weeks, with products reaching the market soon after. We’re actively running trials with a variety of companies and have already signed commercial agreements to support this rollout. These initial sales are within our Tastilux product platform.”
Fats… the next generation
Nourish is one of a growing number of startups using microbial fermentation to make tailored fats including Terra Oleo, Checkerspot, Yali Bio, Melt&Marble, ÄIO, c16 Bio, Circe, Seminal Bio, NoPalm Ingredients, Zero Acre Farms and Clean Food Group.
Other startups are making cell-cultured fat by growing animal fat cells in a bioreactor (Hoxton Farms, Mission Barns, Believer Meats, SuperMeat, Mosa Meat) while some are playing around with the structure of plant oils through emulsions (Lypid), oleogels (PerFat, Shiru), oil structuring technology (Fattastic), and CO2 and hydrogen (Savor).
While attempting to produce drop-in replacements for commodity oils and fats using microbial fermentation is challenging, high impact, low inclusion fats are a different ballgame, claims Nourish.
If you can produce high-potency molecules that can be used at sub-1% inclusion rates to dramatically transform the flavor and cooking experience of a plant-based burger, for example, the economics are attractive, claimed cofounder James Petrie in a recent interview.
“Only a small proportion of animal fat is actually interesting and provides that signature taste. So if you make a drop in [replacement for animal fat], 80% of what you’re producing could readily be substituted by a plant. And you don’t want to be competing with plants.”
* Under the FEMA GRAS (Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association Generally Recognized as Safe) process, a panel of experts in toxicology, organic chemistry, biochemistry, metabolism, and pathology assesses the safety of flavor ingredients.
