Kern Tec unlocks valuable stone fruit seed ingredients to formulate plant-based dairy and confectionery

26 Sep 2023 --- Austria-based Kern Tec has landed €12 million (US$ 12.7 million) in funding to bolster the production and commercialization of its sustainable ingredients derived from upcycled stone fruit pits such as apricots, plums and cherries. Following the cash injection, the company will upscale and focus on plant-based milk, non-dairy drinks, yogurt, ice cream, desserts and cheese as part of its strategy to upcycle food waste.

This comes at a time when 500,000 metric tons of the pits are landfilled each year in Europe alone. 

“Upcycling is the unique opportunity to realize the well-known triangle of social, sustainable and economic maximum for companies and the end-consumer,” Michael Beitl, co-founder and managing director at Kern Tec, tells Food Ingredients First.

“Within the next two years, we want to launch our nut paste ingredients in the confectionery and bakery segment.”

He further tells us that bringing an unstandardized raw material “treated like waste” into a standardized ingredient fulfilling all international quality standards is difficult, expensive and time-consuming. 

Quality management is tough too. He reveals that since stone fruit seeds contain cyanide, owing to strict regulations, it would not be possible to launch food products without removing the toxic element. 

To combat the toxin, Kern Tec has developed a technology that “reduces the contained cyanide to a harmless level” and allows the consumption of the products in amounts similar to other ingredients.

The company has already signed purchase orders for its ingredients “worth millions of euros” in revenues over the coming years.

Tech that supports farmers
The company flags that it extracts valuable oils and protein from the seeds of stone fruit pits using a series of processing steps.

Further, the formulators develop a base compound for “delicious, sustainable and cost-effective” dairy products like yogurt, plant-based milk and cheese. 

The ingredients are used in plant-based dairy and confectionery products (Image credit: Kern Tec).According to Beitl, the company sources its kernels directly from the fruit industry, like jam or juice manufacturers from all across Europe. It plans to go global by procuring from Africa, Asia and the US in the future.

However, the company flags that it had its share of hurdles in bringing a raw material hailed as waste into food applications. 

Funding drives further growth
Luca Fichtinger, co-founder and managing director at Kern Tec, highlights the importance of the funding: “This investment will accelerate our global scaling capabilities and enable more products to the market that are derived from the valuable stone fruit seeds. This will scale our impact of reducing waste while unlocking further growth in the plant-based dairy industry.”

Telos Impact led the investment with participation from the PeakBridge Growth 2 fund and the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. Additionally, Kern Tec has also secured significant local and international grants.

Upcycling food waste 
Based on Eurostat’s analysis, stone fruit orchards in Europe occupy approximately 18.6% of the total European fruit sector. Unfortunately, a large portion of this ends up in landfills. 

“The world is full of waste which needs to be transformed into high-quality products,” Beitl underscores.

Kern Tec’s stone fruit processing rescues the pits and prevents them from being discarded. 

Consumers want companies to reduce food wastage, too. Innova Market Insights’ data suggests that one in four consumers surveyed in 2023 would like to see food businesses considering the environment as a part of future NPD. Further, 29% hope the F&B industry focuses on waste reduction and management. 

The Kern Tec team (Image credit: Kern Tec).

Looking ahead
Kern Tec plans to spend about €4 million (US$4.2 million) on research and development over the next few years.

For now, the company intends to stay within the plant-based food segment to tackle food waste.

“When we have finished our mission apricot, cherry and plum kernels, I’m sure the next big thing will come,” Beitl concludes.

By Insha Naureen