Fi Europe Innovation Awards: Plant proteins, fungal-derived colorants and edible coatings take center stage

04 Dec 2020 --- Rounding up this year’s Fi Europe Connect virtual trade show, the winners of the Fi Europe Innovation Awards and the Startup Innovation Challenge have been announced, with both ADM and Olam receiving accolades. 

Plant-based and alternative ingredients took center stage at both virtual award ceremonies, with winners presenting solutions for healthier plant proteins, fungal-derived food colorants and edible coatings for fruits and vegetables, among other differentiated food-tech innovations.

“We were expecting extremely stiff competition,” Dr. Gideon Lapidoth, CEO & co-founder of finalist Enzymit, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. “The participants and technologies are constantly improving. ”

In the award selection process, preference is given to entries introduced within the last two years.

The winners of the Fi Europe Innovation Awards 2020 are as follows:

Ingredient Innovation Award: ADM (Switzerland)
This award recognizes an organization or company that has submitted the best ingredient or process in terms of sensory and physical properties or application costs.

Plant-based and alternative ingredients took center stage at both virtual award ceremonies.Winning this category, ADM’s ProFam Pea provides a cleaner, less bitter taste experience than other pea proteins and reduces the need for masking or top notes.

“Thanks to a unique processing method, it delivers a cleaner flavor with less grassy or bean notes,” an ADM spokesperson tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“It also delivers an enhanced mouthfeel compared with other competitive products, enabling use in applications where unfavorable off-notes and chalky textures have been a barrier to formulating with pea protein.”

Sustainability Innovation Award
In this category, the jury awarded a High Commendation to both finalists: Olam International (UK) and Solercool Technologies (USA).

This award recognizes an organization or company for a measurable supply chain strategy that champions environmental, economic or socially sustainable practices in the F&B industry. 

With its platform AtSource, Olam International has set the goal of making supply chains for coffee, cocoa, cashews, cotton and rice transparent to the consumer in terms of sustainability. “Transparency Triumphs” was notably crowned the Top Trend for 2021 by Innova Market Insights.

Meanwhile, Solercool Technologies has developed a solar-powered refrigeration technology that enables African farmers to reduce rapid, heat-related food degradation after harvest.

The winners of the Startup Innovation Challenge 2020 are as follows:

Most Innovative Food or Beverage Ingredient: Michroma (Argentina/ USA)
This category recognizes innovations related to F&B ingredients or additives from an animal, plant or alternative source.

Michroma uses the CRISPR method to modify the genome of filamentous fungal strains, which then produce ingredients in a bioreactor. The first fruits of this work are food colorants that are stable even at extreme pH values and temperatures. 

Enzymit can quickly develop tailor-made enzymes or improve existing enzymes using algorithm-based protein design.The company is now in the scaling up phase with its red colorant excreted from fungi and reports interest from large players in the industry.

“We are already prototyping with the biggest food, beverage and confectionery companies all over the world. We have a letter of intent from Danone, for example,” Ricky Cassini, CEO of Michroma tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

Yellow and orange colorants have also been acheived on a small scale. The company aims to make these alternatives price-competitive with petroleum-based colorants in the future.

Most Innovative Processing Technology: Sufresca (Israel)
This category recognizes innovations related to food processing technologies that have the potential to positively impact the F&B industry.

Sufresca develops edible coatings for fruit and vegetables that extend shelf life and avoid plastic packaging, even for products that are traditionally difficult to coat, such as peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Most Innovative Service or Technology Supporting F&B: Enyzmit (Israel)
This category recognizes innovations that support improvements in ingredients sourcing and production, food safety, traceability, transparency or supply chain management.

The winner of this category, Enzymit, can quickly develop tailor-made enzymes or improve existing enzymes using algorithm-based protein design.

“Designing novel proteins (i.e. ones not found in nature) and specifically enzymes is an immensely hard problem,” Dr. Lapidoth tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“The number of different changes one can make to even a small protein in order to alter its properties exceeds the number of atoms in the observable universe.”

Enzymit is currently building a platform that allows it to efficiently test a large number of enzyme variants.

“While relying on state of the art deep learning algorithms we can then compare the experimental data to the computer-generated data to improve our design process making it better every cycle,” details Lapidoth.

Food Tech Innovation Award: Netzsch Trockenmahltechnik (Germany)
This award recognizes an organization or company that has submitted an innovative technical processing, manufacturing, packaging or waste reduction solution, or a service for food ingredients.

Netzsch is a manufacturer of grinding machines, fine-milling machines as well as classifiers for processed dry products. With the ATEX-compliant Condux Compact System, it has developed a space-saving, less cost-intensive grinding plant.

“Our goal was for Condux Compact Impact Mill to optimally meet the needs of the industry. Of course, we hope that the award will help draw even more attention to the advantages of this product,” says Dr. Stefan Jung, marketing manager at Netzsch.

For an overview of other innovative solutions featured at the virtual show, readers may be directed to FoodIngredientsFirst Fi Europe Connect 2020 coverage. 

By Benjamin Ferrer