With a unique, fermentation-based approach to plant-based food, Yumame Foods needed a partner to help expand production. Its collaboration with Agilery has since brought Yumame’s minimally processed, fungi-based products to a first-level scale while maintaining the company’s focus on local, sustainable supply chains.

The challenge

Yumame Foods recognised that while many consumers are looking to replace meat at the centre of their plates, satisfaction with plant-based alternatives can vary.  To imitate conventional meat texture and mouthfeel, many products utilise a long list of refined ingredients, including refined proteins, artificial flavours and additives, and require a  series of transformation steps that can be perceived as “ultra-processed.” In many cases, these meat analogues also rely on long and international supply chains for manufacturing and distribution, adding to the product’s carbon footprint. 

In contrast to meat analogues which aim to replicate animal products as closely as possible, Yumame’s products have their own unique taste and texture. Additionally, thanks to Yumame’s manufacturing method based on blending fungi and fermentation, the products undergo minimal processing, and can be produced locally anywhere in the world by using local raw materials, thus being highly sustainable. The products were created with scientists and culinary experts, and are easy to cook in a large variety of ways. 

With the concept on hand, the team’s next step was to scale up and bring these products to consumers quickly. A partnership with Agilery, a contract manufacturing company that helps bring food and beverage products to market, enabled them to prepare for industrialisation and distribution.

The opportunity

As partners in the Swiss Food and Nutrition Valley network,  the founders of Yumame Foods and Agilery have been aware of each other’s activities and crossed paths during previous collaborations. After a few preliminary discussions, the two companies began  a formal partnership aimed to  reach  production scale-up for Yumame’s products utilising Agilery’s expertise in the market, technologies, and local networks. The partnership also supports fulfil Yumame Foods’ broader goals around  product quality, resource efficiency, sustainable supply chain, and fermentation safety.

The solution

As a new product with a unique production process, Yumame Foods and Agilery had to work together to develop solutions outside the usual food processing methods. This expanded each partner’s knowledge and fostered a creative, agile, and solution-oriented synergy that benefitted both companies.  

Together, they drafted the concept for a product scale-up, identified  potential partners for raw materials, services and equipment, and built the set-up in praxis. The companies have worked hand in hand during the ramp-up phase, working in collaboration to secure high-quality results in a cost-effective manner.

The results

Thanks to this partnership, Yumame Foods products can now be produced at a first-level scale.The company is now focused  on testing the products in the Swiss market and planning further scale-up stages for possible international expansion. 

Potential customers are already getting a taste of Yumame’s fungi-based products. Yumame products were featured in the main course of the “Taste the Future” Menu at the Swiss Overshoot Day 2023 event. The product is  an example of an innovative plant-based food that can help mitigate our consumption of ecological resources to  delay the Overshoot Day. 

Through the collaboration with Yumame Foods, Agilery unlocked its full potential in providing clients with a comprehensive range of practical and technical solutions. This collaborative partnership immersed Agilery in Yumame's world with the mindset of a dedicated team member.

A few words from the partners

“The collaboration with Agilery has been very positive for us. The team is experienced and competent and can tap into a large network of suppliers and partners quickly. They understood our targets and the product requirements very quickly, and we could find the specific solutions needed to reach our first scale-up level,” says Eliana Zamprogna Rosenfeld, Founder and CEO of Yumame Foods AG. “It was impressive to feel the passion and resilience of the team when new challenges had to be solved. It’s great to work together.”

“When we had the chance to work on a game-changing, innovative project for Yumame, we embraced the opportunity immediately,” says Marcin Niedzielski, CEO of Agilery AG. “At Agilery, we thrive on tackling complex challenges, and together with Yumame, we demonstrate a fruitful collaboration. We are motivated to support clients who foster sustainable food choices.”

About Yumame Foods 

Yumame Foods is a FoodTech startup that uses fungi and fermentation to make healthy, tasty and sustainable products for the centre of the plate that are minimally processed and locally produced with local ingredients.

About Agilery

Agilery is a contract manufacturing company that helps brands of all sizes to bring food and beverage products to market.

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In our first Co-create & Innovate case study, we find out more about Project BIOPACK – a collaborative partnership between EPFL’s Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites, Algaltek, an EPFL spin-off and Nestlé Research.

The challenge

Rethinking the way that packaging materials are produced is key to a sustainable, waste-free future. But some packaging elements are still not recyclable, or are not sorted or collected correctly. This means that they’re still sent to landfill or end up polluting our oceans.

The opportunity

In 2019, Nestlé opened a dedicated Institute of Packaging Sciences in their Research Center in Lausanne to enable them to play a leading role in finding alternatives to single use plastic. As a member of the Integrative Food and Nutrition Center, the Nestlé team was able to connect with EPFL’s Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites and the GR-LUD, an algae specialized laboratory at EPFL. This gave them access to specific scientific capabilities that could accelerate their work - and Project BIOPACK was born.

The collaboration would focus on creating life-cycle engineered, bio-based food packaging solutions that would minimise their environmental impact. But that wasn’t all. The project would also consider how these materials would be treated at the end of their lives – something that is key for a sustainable waste-free future. The project aimed to contribute to both organisations’ visions of a zero-waste food sector.

The collaboration

The partners decided that they wanted to adopt a “holistic life-cycle” perspective. This meant moving away from non-renewable and non-recyclable resources and instead concentrating on cost-efficient bio-based materials with reduced environmental footprints.

These materials are typically based on microfibrillated cellulose - MFC, a new form of engineered cellulose - that’s made from renewable biomass sources like microalgae and wood. The materials are designed to be compatible with existing end-of-life valorisation methods.

Reflections & next steps

The collaboration allows both partners to play to their respective strengths: EPFL focuses on the production and disposal of bio-based materials and their characterization, while Nestlé contributes with Life Cycle Assessment studies that take the entire life cycle into consideration. Nestlé also provides inputs for specific case studies related to target markets and product types for which the packaging materials will be designed.

Both stakeholders plan to continue their collaboration to develop a comprehensive understanding of the entire packaging life cycle and their performance in relation to relevant sustainability criteria. 

A few words from the partners

Commenting on the collaboration, Yves Leterrier, senior scientist at EPFL’s Materials Science Institute, said: “Sustainable packaging does not exist, but an approach based on a sustainable product life cycle can help to optimise the net system impact of new packaging solutions.”

Lise Zeboudj, Department Manager, Packaging Materials at the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences, said: “The development of new high performing, sustainable alternative packaging materials is a key part of our waste-free strategy. This requires a fundamental understanding of material structures and performance - which is why we are collaborating with our partners at EPFL.”

Eya Damergi Nicodeme, Posdoc researcher and co-founder of Algaltek added: "We, the research team at GR-LUD led by Prof. Christian Ludwig, have developed a unique culturing technique for algae that yields pure, high-yield microfibrillated cellulose. With a filed patent and a partnership with Nestlé, we aiming to scale this technology and explore the limitless possibilities this algae offers."

Find out more about EPFL’s Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites (LPAC), GR-LUD and Algaltek.

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