Transforming waste into something exciting, innovative and useful is the very definition of the future of food. And that’s exactly what the two joint runners-up of this year’s EMEA Global Food Tech Awards have done, presented with their awards at Future Food-Tech London.
Betta Choc and UPP (Upcycled Plant Power) saw opportunities where no one else did and brought products into the market that will help to solve some of the problems faced by food. GFTA judges evaluated applicants based on five criteria: scalability, sustainability, novelty, market fit and star quality. Here’s why these two start-ups stood out.
Functional ingredients from broccoli waste
UPP produces plant-based ingredients from broccoli sidestreams. Not only did it develop a robotic harvesting system that gathers the parts of the broccoli plant that is usually left in the ground to rot, it turns the harvest into sustainable, functional and nutritious fibre and protein ingredients.
The waste had no commercial use so UPP is capturing stranded value, which can create new revenue streams for broccoli growers.
Consumer acceptance of the products is likely to be higher as they’re familiar with broccoli. And because it’s not lab-grown or genetically modified, and doesn’t require novel organisms, it has low regulatory and labelling risks.
It has also constructed a pilot processing facility capable of handling up to 10 tons of broccoli sidestreams each day.
“The thing we’re most excited about is getting on to the supermarket shelves at scale,” says founder Mark Evans. “The thing that differentiates us is that we have an agreement with a very large farmer, which will give us 100,000 tons of feedstock, which will then deliver 40,000 tons of product. We want to deliver at scale and with the quality that allows tier-1 food producers to buy from us.”
A cocoa alternative with a mood-boosting bonus
Cocoa is an increasingly volatile commodity, with prices high and crops threatened. Alternatives may offer a sustainable solution to strengthen cocoa’s supply chain.
Born Maverick upcycles discarded date seeds into Betta Choc, a cocoa alternative made with proprietary fermentation technology. The startup offers manufacturers a sustainable ingredient that mimic’s cocoa’s taste and functionality while minimising reliance on a volatile supply chain.
An added bonus is that it includes theobromine, an alkaloid with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that’s known for boosting mood benefits.
Date seeds are a waste product of date production. The company combines them with an existing mycelium strain and other ingredients for the fermentation process, and harvests the biomass. This stage produces the cocoa taste and the theobromine.
What’s next for Betta Choc?
“We are on the verge of a major collaboration, which would allow us to build an infrastructure to make it more scalable,” says founder Azhar Murtuza. “Instead of raising money and then looking for strategy partners, we’re looking for strategy partners and then looking for the money. We have been very strategic with how much we want to raise, We want to scale in the way that’s most cost-efficient.”
Want to know which startups made the top 10? Check out the GFTA EMEA shortlist here.
