FIBERVITA and 77 FOODS have been announced as the winners of two Innovation Challenges in partnership with Kellogg Company and Unilever at the recent FutureFood tech event. 

The Kellogg company decided that FIBERVITA was the best in the 'New microbiome-based innovation for gut wellness' challenge.

FIBERVITA pioneered in developing a proprietary technology at industrial scale to launch an upcycled ingredient portfolio consisting of sustainable, multifunctional, versatile, healthy, clean label, allergen-, gluten- and GMO-free cassava-based fibrous ingredients. Its purpose is to provide cassava fibers to nourish beyond food, i.e., support health and wellness.

77 FOODS won the Unilever Innovation Challenge, which looked at a companies ability to improve taste, texture, sustainability, and affordability of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives. 

"At 77 FOODS, our scientists are inspired by nature to mimic this extracellular matrix – using only ingredients coming from plants, we encapsulate plant oils such as sunflower oil, canola oil, etc. Thanks to this innovation, it is possible to make a plant-based adipose tissue that closely resembles that of meat, that can be sliced, cooked, and slowly releases oil upon cooking," said Nicolas Schweitzer, CEO, and Co-Founder of 77 FOODS.

Six finalists were selected through an in-depth review and judging process to present their solution to the judges and audience at Future Food-Tech on March 11.

D’Anne Hayman, VP of Global Innovation and Nutrition at Kellogg Company, and André Pots, Director Product and Process Science Foods & Refreshment at Unilever, revealed the winners during the summit.

“While a number of start-ups submitted tremendous ideas for improving gut wellness, Fibervita truly stood out for its outside-the-box thinking around sustainability – especially its use of a locally-sourced ingredient widely available in emerging markets,” said D’Anne Hayman, Vice President of Global Innovation and Nutrition at Kellogg. “As Kellogg continues to shape the future of food, we’re excited to talk further with the Fibervita team about how we can work together to improve digestive wellness – and along with it, societal wellbeing too.”

André Pots also shared the reasons for Unilever’s chosen winner: “We were delighted to receive numerous applications from start-ups around the world, all keen to support Unilever with our plant-based challenge. 77 FOODS, in our view, had the strongest consumer-centric pitch, highlighting the importance of the animal fat that gives delicious meat products its flavor when developing plant-based products. They claim to have cracked the savory taste from conventional animal fat, which is not an easy one we know. We are looking forward to discussing opportunities with the 77 FOODS team to support us in our mission to achieve annual sales of €1bn from plant-based meat and dairy alternatives.”

Oliver Katz, Conference Producer at Future Food-Tech said: “We were delighted by the calibre and diversity of fresh solutions presented from across the globe as innovators showcased new technologies to solve the two diverse challenges presented by Kellogg Company and Unilever. Congratulations to the two winners, and we can’t wait to hear more from all these pioneering start-ups over the coming months.”

The remaining four presenting finalists were: Comet Bio (USA), FIBERVITA (Brazil), Green Spot Technologies (France), ProMeat (India), 77 FOODS (France), Eighth Day Foods (Australia).