Nestlé explores emerging technologies for animal-free dairy proteins

Sep 12, 2022 | Headline, Member news, Press-releases, Uncategorized

Nestlé explores emerging technologies for animal-free dairy proteins

Nestlé has announced that it is exploring emerging technologies for the development of animal-free dairy protein-based products. Its novel product - developed by Nestlé R&D teams in Switzerland - will be piloted in the US market later this year as a test-and-learn.

Piloting a novel product

Nestlé announced yesterday that it is exploring emerging technologies for the development of animal-free dairy protein-based products. This move complements investments the company has made in plant-based meat and dairy alternative offerings over the years to meet the growing consumer demand for nutritious, more environmentally friendly diets.

Nestlé will pilot a novel product through the company's newly established U.S. R+D Accelerator, bringing it to the U.S. market later this year as a test-and-learn. The product is made with animal-free protein from Perfect Day, a food technology startup company based in Berkeley, California. According to Perfect Day, the protein, made through precision fermentation, is identical to the whey protein found in cow's milk but is lactose free and suitable for vegans.

A Swiss innovation

The product was developed by Nestlé R&D teams based in Switzerland. With expertise in both great-tasting nutritious dairy and plant-based dairy alternatives, Nestlé is well-equipped to deliver a relevant consumer solution in this emerging space, in collaboration with start-ups and other ecosystem actors.

Heike Steiling, Head of Nestlé's Development Center for dairy products: "As the world's largest food and beverage company, delivering foods and beverages that are good for people and the planet is a priority. We are exploring emerging technologies that can lead to animal-friendly alternatives that are nutritious and sustainable, without compromising on taste, flavor, and texture. Bringing together our unmatched R&D expertise, innovation capabilities and scale, we are working to develop and test novel animal-free dairy protein-based products to complement our wide-ranging portfolio of plant-based alternatives."

Rapid US market entry

The recently created U.S. R+D Accelerator is focused on identifying opportunities and aims to bring highly differentiated product concepts to the market in just six months.

"We are excited to pilot Nestlé's first animal-free dairy protein-based products through our U.S. R+D Accelerator," said Joanna Yarbrough, head of the R+D Accelerator. "While this category is still very young, we know consumers are looking for products that have a reduced environmental footprint, and we are evaluating this avenue as a future growth opportunity for our business."

Through investing in initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy, launching more plant-based dairy alternatives, while exploring emerging technologies for animal-free dairy proteins, Nestlé aims to to transform its dairy product portfolio as a part of its broader commitment to provide food that's good for people and the planet.

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Meet Laura, the Valley’s Comms Lead.

Sep 5, 2022 | Team members

orange fruit tree

"The Valley's mission reflects everything I'm passionate about - food, health, sustainability and collaboration."

Tell us a bit about yourself.

As a child, I spent my holidays glued to my dad's old typewriter, writing stories about how to save the world. Later, I perhaps unsurprisingly became a policy geek. Regardless of what I was meant to be doing, I somehow always ended up bringing people together to create a joint vision for change and then got very excited about coming up with a plan to make it happen.

When life brought me to Switzerland, I dove head first into the Swiss start-up scene and developed a smorgasbord of food projects, surprising my former technophobe self by cooking up some mobile apps to promote more sustainable food choices and tackle food waste. In 2020 I finally ran out of excuses and did something I'd always wanted to do: set up my own business. And I'm very glad I did, as this led to me to start collaborating with the Valley in early 2022. When I'm not busy setting my laptop keyboard alight, you'll generally find me making a mess in the kitchen.

What motivated you to work for the Valley?

The Valley's mission reflects everything I'm passionate about - food, health, sustainability and collaboration. I feel very fortunate to work alongside such an inspiring and dedicated core team and collaborate with Swiss innovators whose work will have such a positive impact on the future of food. I love doing whatever I can to share their stories and help their solutions get traction. If you have news to share or a story to tell, please get in touch! 

What are you working on at the moment?

This year, I'll be supporting the launch of the Valley's new tools - three platforms to help ecosystem actors find the talent, investment and facilities they need to scale. At our annual communications roundtable event, we also spotted three priority areas that offer the potential to boost our joint impact as an ecosystem. I look forward to teaming up with all the Valley partner comms superstars to take this work forward!

Tell us something else we still don't know about you.

I’ve always been a wannabe founder with eco-warrior tendencies. As a child, I created the Green Adventure Club, an exclusive network of eleven year olds who spent their weekends spreading the word about the planet in peril through articles, newsletters and bouncy castle meet-ups. The impact was questionable but we had a lot of fun.

But, as any of my first year university flatmates would tell you, I have not always been a foodie. Thankfully, my amazing Italian friends on my year abroad saved me from a life sentence on canned food and opened my eyes to a wonderful new world of freshly cooked dishes. And for that I am eternally grateful. 

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ALDI SUISSE becomes the first Swiss retailer to join Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley

Aug 18, 2022 | Headline, Member news, Press-releases, Uncategorized

ALDI SUISSE becomes the first Swiss retailer to join Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley

ALDI SUISSE is the first Swiss retailer to become a member of the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley. By taking this step, ALDI strengthens its commitment to innovating to drive a more sustainable food system.

A new partnership for even more sustainable innovation

ALDI SUISSE is the first retailer in Switzerland to become a member of Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley. This move demonstrates its commitment to even more sustainability along its supply chains and driving innovations in agriculture and the food industry. The Swiss retailer believes that scientific and technological solutions will play a key role in shaping a more sustainable future.

Celebrating their membership, Jérôme Meyer, Country Managing Director at ALDI SUISSE said: “Healthy and sustainable nutrition is an essential part of our lives. That's why agriculture and food affect everyone. There is still great potential here. We are therefore very pleased to be the first Swiss retailer to become part of Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley's extensive network and we look forward to discovering, promoting and supporting exciting agricultural and food innovations."

Major distributors play a key role in shaping a more sustainable food industry

Large distributors play an essential role in shaping more sustainable food systems. By becoming a Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley member, ALDI SUISSE makes an important contribution to driving a more future-focused food industry.

Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley Managing Director, Christina Senn-Jakobsen said: "Retailers play a vital gatekeeping role in driving more sustainable food systems. They shortlist the products that make it onto our dinner plates - shaping our supply chains from farm to fork and making it easier for consumers to make healthier and more sustainable choices. That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome ALDI SUISSE to the Valley. We look forward to welcoming them to the SFNV family and collaborating to create new programs to accelerate purpose-driven innovation! ”

About ALDI SUISSE

ALDI SUISSE AG is a Swiss company headquartered in Schwarzenbach (SG) and belongs to the group of companies ALDI SÜD, a global retail company. ALDI's key values are simplicity, consistency and responsibility. In addition to high-quality products and affordable prices, this means ensuring sustainable, environmentally-friendly and animal-friendly production. A large proportion of sales from the ALDI SUISSE standard range of around 1800 products is generated from articles produced in Switzerland. With more than 3,900 employees and 230 branches, ALDI SUISSE has established itself as one of the largest employers in the Swiss retail trade since 2005.

About Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley

Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley (SFNV) is a not-for-profit association that strengthens and promotes food system innovation within Switzerland with global impact. SFNV’s diverse member organizations collaborate to address the most pressing challenges in food, agriculture and nutrition, and co-create innovative solutions that drive better planetary and human health.

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Switzerland’s got talent: Meet Prof. Josie Hughes from CREATE Lab at EPFL

Jul 25, 2022 | Headline, Talent

Switzerland’s got talent: Meet Prof. Josie Hughes from CREATE Lab at EPFL

Robotics and AI offer huge potential to drive innovation, from agriculture to sustainable consumption. EPFL’s CREATE Lab is eager to  collaborate with industry partners to change how we design and use robots. We caught up with Prof. Josie Hughes to find out more about the expertise that her team can offer.

How can your work at CREATE LAB support food system innovation?

Making food production more efficient, nutritious and environmentally conscious is a global problem. But robotics and AI can help us to innovate and think outside the box. In the CREATE lab, we don't just want to scratch the surface. We want to deep dive into how the tools available to us can help us to fundamentally rethink the way food systems work.

This is not only about designing and creating more capable robots but also enabling robots to perform large-scale physical experiments to design or optimize processes such as food development or agricultural practices. The applications are limitless. Robots can automatically optimize or discover new recipes by helping us better understand human taste, optimize the growing conditions for certain plants or harvest plants in challenging terrain.

One of our PhD students is currently working on training harvesting robots to feel and see raspberries to reduce the amount of soft fruit loss during harvesting. You can see the machine in action in the video below.  

On a personal level, which issues would you be particularly interested in tackling?

The amount of waste that our food systems currently create really frustrates me. But this also seems to be an issue that both consumers and industry can tackle in the short term and could have a really significant impact if we get it right. As consumers we need to change our habits and accept blemished or non-perfect fresh food. Reusable packaging is also a hugely promising area. I believe that greater collaboration is important here. Over the last few months, we've been working on a really exciting project in this space. More news will follow soon!

How could SFNV members and the wider Swiss food ecosystem engage with the CREATE Lab? 

Reach out to my colleagues at the EPFL Integrative Food and Nutrition Center. The IFNC’s team acts as an interface between EPFL researchers and the outside world, mostly food industry players. Collaborations always start with a scientific question. Contact Christian Schwab, the Center's Executive Director, to find out more. 

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Why SFNV’s President Martin Vetterli is quietly confident about the future of food

Jul 13, 2022 | Headline, SFNV updates, Uncategorized

Why SFNV’s President Martin Vetterli is quietly confident about the future of food

Martin Vetterli was unanimously voted in for another term as SFNV President at SFNV's General Assembly in May. We sat down with Martin to talk science, vegetables and why he is quietly confident about the future of food.

What does sustainable food mean to you personally?

Health and pleasure. I’ve eaten a largely vegetarian diet for many years now. I also like to grow my own vegetables, which I enjoy immensely and this gives me the chance to eat local and seasonal products.

What are your predictions for how we will produce, buy and eat food in 2050?

Science will become increasingly important in understanding the processes involved in food assimilation and food processing in particular. Take sugar - materials science has shown that by changing its molecular structure, it can satisfy our sweet tooth in much smaller quantities.

Thanks to science, my hope is that we produce and eat in a much more sustainable way, without losing the mealtime fun.

What has Switzerland got to offer as a food innovation nation? 

Switzerland is the ideal laboratory for healthy and sustainable food. We already have a rich ecosystem of startups, SMEs and multinationals in the fields of biotech and foodtech. SFNV has a good foundation and the ambition to become a globally recognized competence center.

Where do you see the biggest opportunities for impact? 

Precision nutrition or personalized nutrition is certainly a key opportunity. Everyone’s reaction to a specific food is different and unique. Evaluating an individual’s DNA, microbiome and metabolic response to specific foods helps to determine the most effective dietary plan to prevent or even treat disease. In order to help tackle the climate crisis, we should also focus on the production of new sources of protein with reduced environmental impact. Digitalization will also play an important role in driving more sustainable food systems.

In your opinion, what are the most significant challenges that need to be overcome?

Changing habits. These changes must be of interest to the market economy, which is why the presence of strong partners like Nestlé is so important in associations like SFNV. I also see the role of science as fundamental in this regard. Take food packaging, a topic that EPFL is currently exploring. We have to find solutions that are sustainable, economically feasible, and accepted by consumers.

I'm also a big believer in making small lifestyle changes, like traveling with public transport. Again, this often comes down to our daily habits. We need to shift the default.

What’s the role of academic and research institutions specifically in shaping the future of food?

The role of academic research - with all the academic freedom that this implies - is to provide answers to scientific and societal questions that may arise. And the most burning issue today is very clear: we need a more sustainable food system.

How can we help young people develop the mindset and skills needed to take action on complex issues, like the climate crisis, which impact on individual and planetary health?  

We can see that millennials are changing their eating behaviours for a variety of reasons, including health, ecological and economic factors. I am therefore confident. On the EPFL campus, we do whatever it takes to support everyone willing to contribute to a better future: from meatless meals and washable lunch boxes to participatory gardens. I wish that there were initiatives like this when I was a student!

What role does collaboration play in driving change? 

We need people from different backgrounds and professions to spread the message and to design solutions that meet diverse needs. In the end, food products have to taste good. Taste is central, otherwise eating habits will not change. The École hôtelière de Lausanne and similar institutions have a major role to play here. And I’m particularly pleased that Chef Franck Giovannini of the Hôtel de Ville de Crissier is one of our ambassadors. Farmers are also central actors in the production chain and must be included in the change process. Science works better when it doesn’t operate in a silo!

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