Plant-based oils company AAK has invested in Swedish food-tech start-up firm Green-On, which produces lab-grown fats and oils.
Green-On produces the lab-grown fats and oils directly from carbon dioxide, renewable energy and water for food and other applications.
The company makes customised saturated fat for use in products such as baked foods, cheese, chocolate, ice cream and shortening. It also makes mono- and diglycerides for use as emulsifiers in food products.
“There are today, besides palm oil, very few plant-based oils with which we can create the functionality of solid, high-melting fats, which are used in, for example, plant-based meat, bakery and confectionery applications,” AAK chief technology officer Karsten Nielsen said in a 15 July statement.
“This technology provides the exact part of the fat that is needed to create the functionalities of future food production and with a much lower environmental impact.”
As part of the investment, AAK said it would provide Green-On with oils and fats knowledge and facilities to support and further develop the company’s work.
The collaboration with Green-On was made possible through AAK’s partnership with Big Idea Ventures (BIV), which was initiated last March, the company said.
BIV has a protein fund that focuses on plant-based and cell-based meat, seafood and dairy products as well as ingredients and technologies that facilitate growth in those categories.
