Consumers seek healthy, sustainable options, steering towards plant-based choices over traditional meats. Four Dutch companies – PeelPioneers, Beefygreen, Revyve, and Hilton Foods Dalco – unite to create the first circular meat substitute in the Netherlands, marking a pivotal step towards a sustainable food industry.
Addressing the growing demand for sustainable alternatives, the project emphasizes mapping climate impact through a Life Cycle Assessment. Applying advanced techniques and utilizing exclusively local, circular ingredients such as citrus fiber and oyster mushroom stems, the pioneering companies aim to produce plant-based meat with the taste and texture of traditional meat, ensuring minimal environmental impact.
Supported by Opzuid 21-27, a reputable European subsidy program for transition-driven innovation, with a co-financing of 725,000 euros, the project amalgamates expertise from foodtech pioneers to stimulate innovation and create a flavorful, circular, and nutritionally valuable product.
A sustainable collaboration
This collaborative effort leverages over two decades of combined expertise in plant-based meat production, innovative product development, and circular entrepreneurship.
PeelPioneers, renowned for upcycling discarded citrus peels into valuable ingredients, plays a crucial role in supplying sustainable citrus fibers for the plant-based meat substitute. Beefygreen specializes in transforming misshapen mushrooms and grower surplus into circular ingredients and products, contributing technological know-how and product development expertise.
Revyve (formerly Fumi Ingredients) processes beer yeast into functional proteins and fibers, enhancing the texture and nutritional value of the final product since 2019. Hilton Foods Dalco, known for creating vegetarian alternatives, possesses the technology to amalgamate all ingredients into a final product and scale it commercially.
Circular meat alternative
The project spans a two-year timeline, with the anticipated result – a climate-positive, Dutch meat substitute – expected on shelves in February 2025. Rigorous testing and tasting by an internal panel throughout the project ensure the successful creation of the first Dutch circular meat substitute.
Peter Roosink, Innovation Lead at PeelPioneers.
“This collaboration gives us confidence that we can offer consumers a flavorful, environmentally friendly alternative.”