August 14, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

As consumer demands shift and the global food industry is looking to invest in technologies and systems that support healthier and more sustainable options, UK-based Clean Food Group announced it has expanded its Pre-Series A by £2.3 million (US$2.9 million) in support of its sustainable oils and fats technology. 

This ongoing round, which lifts the company’s total funding to-date to £10 million (US$12.7 million), was backed by industrial food specialists Doehler Group and LATAM food tech specialist Alianza Team, with participation from Agronomics, a leading investor in cellular agriculture, and SEED Innovations, an AIM-listed fund focused on investment opportunities in global health.

The company stated that it expects to complete a Series A funding round this year, by which time the company will have validated its technology at a commercial scale and have a clear path to near-term revenue generation.

The capital raised through this funding will be used to accelerate the scale-up of its technology platform, while advancing critical regulatory and commercial goals, including the buildout of a commercial scale manufacturing facility. 

Founded by a cross-disciplinary team with deep experience in the biotech, food, and retail industries, Clean Food Group’s proprietary technology platform is the culmination of eight years of pioneering research by Professor Chris Chuck, technical lead, Clean Food Group, and professor of Bioprocess Engineering at the University of Bath’s Department of Chemical Engineering. 

The University of Bath has had a history of breakthroughs in the area of cellular agriculture, having previously developed new processes for the production of cellular meats in its chemical engineering department. 

And in August 2022, Clean Food Group invested £1.8 million (US$2.3 million) acquiring the IP and rights to the process developed by Chuck and his team at the university to design a lab-created, yeast-based palm oil alternative and the method for making it.

Palm Reading

Palm oil is everywhere. It’s versatile; has a low cost of production; has a high burning point; and is high in saturated fats. It’s an ingredient in a vast range of products from baked goods to chips, noodles, and even cosmetics, and health and beauty products.

The oil’s popularity has driven it to have a global market value of $50.6 billion in 2021, and expectations of reaching $65.5 billion by 2027. However, this rise in popularity is a double-edged sword, as its production is responsible for vast deforestation; societal exploitation; loss of biodiversity and habitats of endangered species such as the Sumatran rhino, the orangutan, and the pygmy elephant; pollution to water and air; and increased greenhouse gas emissions across Southeast Asia due to the conversion of carbon-heavy peat soils to plantations. 

“Our dependence on palm oil comes at a great environmental cost,” said Professor Chuck. “We’ve worked over many years to create robust palm oil alternatives that give us a real chance to cut the impact of a range of products that until now have only been possible to produce with palm oil and the deforestation, pollution and emissions that come with it.”

This new, yeast-based palm oil alternative, and several of its components (not only a palm oil substitute, but synthetic proteins that can be a direct replacement for soybean products), will be further developed with the intent of replacing existing food ingredients that are unsustainable. Likewise, work will continue on using the “whole cell” of the yeast product as the basis for a range of new meat alternative foods.

“We are delighted to work with Professor Chris Chuck and his growing Clean Food Group team at the University of Bath to bring a commercially viable and sustainable alternative to palm oil to market,” said Alex Neves, co-founder and CEO, Clean Food Group, last year. 

“We are well placed to take the next step on the path to bringing our palm oil alternative, an ingredient with the potential to solve substantial environmental, food security, health and working environment challenges within the incumbent palm oil supply chain, to market.”

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work 

Recent weeks have been busy for Clean Food Group, which also announced a long-term strategic collaboration with Alianza Team, a Latin American food production and lipid-based technology expert with 75 years of experience in developing functional, value-add oils and fats for global food manufacturers and operations in Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and the U.S.

Together, the partners aim to develop and bring to market products that meet the industry’s need for sustainable, functional, and cost competitive oils and fats to replace today’s commonly used and agriculturally intensive ingredients. 

A second service agreement was signed by Clean Food Group with Doehler Group designed to rapidly scale its fermentation process enabling the manufacture of product batches required for regulatory approval for food and cosmetics applications. 

The company explained that this scale-up process with Doehler is currently well-advanced. With a successful fermentation run of 1,000 liters recently completed, the company expects that the manufacture of product batches for the regulatory approvals will be completed later this year. 

“We are delighted with the rapid progress the business has made in the past year,” said Neves. “The successful conclusion of this current funding round validates the important strides our business is taking in solving critical sustainability and supply chain challenges facing our food and cosmetic manufacturer customers.”

Additionally, Clean Food Group has expanded its operational team, welcoming Dr. James Mercer as head of manufacturing and scale-up, and Andrea Cattaruzza as head of product. 

Mercer brings more than 25 years of experience in industrial fermentation and the scaling of alternative proteins, having held positions at Quorn, Croda, and DuPont, and will be responsible for the scale-up of the company’s technology platform.

Likewise, Cattaruzza has more than 30 years of experience, most recently as director of science with Mars Global Chocolate, and will drive the company’s product strategy, driving performance and sustainable ingredients for the company’s commercial partners. 

Neves concluded, “We are now in a great position to validate our technology at a commercial scale, to advance our regulatory pathways, and to develop our growing list of commercial partners in advance of our Series A next year”.

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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