Is Solein the future of sustainable protein? Key summary
- Solein is made via gas fermentation using air and renewable energy
- It uses 100x less land, water and emits less CO2 than whey
- Solein has no taste, making it easy to flavour without additives
- Already approved in Singapore, Solar Foods now targets US expansion
- CEO sees Solein filling protein gap in $10bn US whey market
Solar Foods’ Solein ingredient sounds almost too good to be true: it’s sustainable, nutritious, and can be made in less than three days.
New CEO Rami Jokela believes wholeheartedly in its potential. So much so, he’s backing the ingredient to disrupt America’s health and performance segment – dominated by a whey protein isolate market expected to be nearing $10bn market value within the next decade.
Solein: ‘The most sustainable protein in the world’
Solar Foods claims its ingredient is the most sustainable in the world. Solein, which in a way is ‘made out of thin air’, is the product of a gas fermentation process.
The start-up uses renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and feeds the resulting hydrogen, carbon dioxide from the air, and minerals to hydrogen-oxidising bacteria in a bioreactor.
These microorganisms then produce the protein, fibre, and ‘healthy’ fats that make up Solein.
“We have the most sustainable product in the world,” says Jokela. Compared to whey protein, it’s associated with 100 times less land and water use, as well as CO2 emissions. And because Solein production is completely divorced from conventional agriculture, it can be produced in absolutely any location, at any time of day.
While sustainability is Solein’s USP, Jokela knows that’s not enough to win over consumers. “Everything starts with taste,” he says. Solein is unique in that it has no taste – or a ‘neutral’ one. That means it can easily be flavoured with other ingredients, and no masking additives are required.
All this, Jokela believes, helps build consumer appetite for novel ingredients.
Taking Solein from Singapore to the world
Jokela is joining the company at an inflection point: Solein is already on the market in Singapore, but focus is now expanding to other markets around the world.
“The regulatory framework in Singapore allows for very fast processing,” explains the new CEO. “Four years ago, when we first started there, we received approval for sale very quickly.”
Singapore was a bit of a “test market” for Solar Foods, but remains “very small” in the wide scheme of things. That’s why the start-up is now focusing its attention on the US, where it has submitted a GRAS notification to obtain a no questions letter from the FDA.
In the meantime, Solar Foods has permission to sell into the US market. This is where the start-up wants to focus on entering the high-end health and performance segment with a whey isolate alternative.
Factoring in the growing disparity between whey production and demand amid a high-protein craze, Jokela sees a real opportunity for Solein to fill that gap stateside.
“It’s a big market, there are big players there, and they see we have a great product.”
