Tetra Pak unveils new partnerships with food waste innovators
Tetra Pak has announced a new set of research collaborations and programmes to address challenges facing food systems worldwide.The company will be collaborating with projects which embrace ‘technical innovation’, taking ‘concerted action’ against issues such as food waste.
Across various countries, such as France, US, Sweden, and Italy, Tetra Pak has paired with a range of development programmes, including enzyme and insect protein systems.
EnginZyme
Swedish startup EnginZyme has devised technology that can ‘stabilise and manipulate how enzymes work in food production, creating an efficient and designed end product’, exploring ‘the potential to upcycle food waste by-products from food production’.
The company has developed methods to turn acid whey – a by-product of cheese production – into an ingredient. Usually, 22 billion litres of the material are produced each year, but it is rarely used due to the large amount of energy it takes to transform it into a valuable ingredient.
EnginZyme’s enzyme system uses enzymes rather than a catalyst, converting acid whey with ‘drastically less’ energy input.
Tebrito
Food and beverage manufacturer Tebrito rears insects, such as locusts and mealworms, to produce food and feed. The company has developed a method of converting insects into protein, with an ‘extremely high conversion rate’ and a a ‘high yield of protein extracted from every batch of mealworms.’
Tebrito is developing a colourless and odourless insect-based protein powder and an oat milk, both of which contain 88 per cent insect protein.
Insects are reared with less water, energy, land, and greenhouse gas emissions than livestock, Tebrito says, meaning that they could meet society’s demand for protein if individuals ‘overcome a culturally conditioned reluctance’ to eating insects.
“Strengthening links between academia and the food industry”
Laurence Mott, Executive VP Development and Technology at Tetra Pak, said: “Tetra Pak has been an early advocate of forming and strengthening links between academia and the food industry.
“We have several long-standing relationships with universities and research institutions. We’ve also been working with game changing start-ups and tech companies to accelerate innovation. Now more than ever this is vital.
“The challenges of the global food industry are broad and varied. The only way we can meet these challenges is to pool our expertise. Only together will we secure a better future in the areas of sustainability, food safety and food availability. I’m very happy to see the progress so far and will take this opportunity to thank all our partners.”
