A biotechnology company which produces oils using yeast and surplus bread has launched its first commercial product, targeted at the cosmetics industry.
Clean Food Group (CFG) said its CLEANOil product delivers “the sensorial quality and functionality associated with premium oils – rich, silky, and naturally high in Omega 6 and 7” while achieving a more than 95% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional agricultural oils.
The launch marks the product’s progression “from concept to commercial reality”, said the company, which was founded in 2022 and born out of eight years of research by Professor Chris Chuck at the University of Bath.
Rather than being pressed or processed from crops, CFG’s oils are made from fermented yeast. That process can produce everything “from liquidy oils through to semi-solids and hard fats” and, unlike regular oils and fats, they are free from the hazards of faraway farmers, volatile markets or deforestation.
CFG worked closely with THG Labs to develop CLEANOil, which “supported the translation of the technology into a commercially viable ingredient”. The launch follows the securing last year of regulatory approval for CLEANOil to be used as a cosmetics ingredient in the UK, US and Europe.
“The launch of CLEANOil is a defining moment for us as a business,” said Alex Neves, CEO of CFG. “We have always believed biotechnology has the potential to fundamentally reshape how ingredients are made, and with CLEANOil, we are showing that sustainable alternatives can meet, if not exceed, the performance expectations of the beauty industry.”
In September, CFG acquired a 12-acre site in Liverpool with one million litres of fermentation capacity. It bought the facility from administration-stricken omega-3 oil manufacturer and supplier Algal Omega 3, which will make it “the world’s largest manufacturer of yeast fermentation-derived sustainable oils and fats”.
The company’s stated objective is to bring sustainable oils and fats to the market, at commercial scale, within the next three years.
It said it had already validated commercial-scale production at the new facility, manufacturing two tonnes of oil in a recent fermentation run.
While initially focusing on cosmetics, Neves told The Grocer in October he wants CFG’s oils and fats to be used in food and petfood, anticipating the day when “we can go into our local supermarket and buy products with our fats in them”.
“What’s been exciting about working with CFG is the opportunity to support genuinely new biotechnology and help shape it for the industry,” said Kristal Goodman, head of product innovation at THG LABS.
“Our role has been to prove that CLEANOil doesn’t just work in theory – it works in formulation, at scale, and within the demands of modern beauty product development. That’s what ultimately gives brands the confidence to adopt new ingredients,” she added.
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