This article is part of a blog series introducing the startup teams of the EIT Food Accelerator Network Helsinki 2024 programme.
Esencia Foods confronts the escalating problem of a food system at the brink of exhaustion. While plant-based vegan alternatives have been a start to tackle this problem, they often disappoint consumers: 1 out of 3 consumers say the products lack texture, every 2nd consumer considers them too costly, and 1 out of 3 consumers distrust long labels and ultra-processing. The underlying problem is technological: it is impossible to create true and good food with current protein powders processed with existing technology.
Our B2B customers have a strong need to address these problems as their margins are slim, and end consumers see existing products increasingly critically due to growing customer education.
We introduce a new system to the alternative protein industry by innovating the ancient process of mycelium solid-state fermentation to produce alternative protein products (patent pending). By combining mycelium’s texturization and bioprocessing capabilities, we build distinct bases for creating different fish and meat products with natural textures at low cost and have clean labels, starting with white fish.
Instead of building products based on mixing and processing powders, we use mycelium, a microorganism, to create a 3-dimensional biomass. This mass is application-specific (think: different for fish, pork, beef). The mass is the basis for creating end products. It is handled the way we know from animal products (think: cut off from a whole piece).
The mycelium biomass results from solid-state fermentation, where not a machine but the microorganism does the heavy lifting of transforming the food and food side streams (mostly legumes) we feed it with. This bioconversion allows us to skip multiple denaturalizing and costly mechanical process steps.
You can find out more about us and our journey at https://www.esenciafoods.co/.
The Esencia Foods team
Esencia Foods and EIT FAN involvement
Esencia Foods decided to take part in the EIT FAN programme as a way to connect with an ecosystem of like-minded startups and corporates to work together towards a more sustainable food system. The attractiveness of the programme came from the opportunity to learn from industry experts on how to best approach corporate partnerships and how to navigate such a delicate balance from the point of view of an emerging startup. The opportunity to work on improving the TRL of the company was also a great part of the programme and the partners from VTT have been giving plenty of support to the startups every step of the way. The experience has been very fulfilling and enriching from a professional and developmental standpoint.
Written by Giulia Buffa, New Product Development Associate at Esencia Foods
Follow Esencia Foods on LinkedIn and Instagram for the latest updates. Learn more about the EIT FAN here.
