A UK biotech company developing a yeast-made alternative to palm oil has acquired a 12-acre site in Liverpool with one million litres of fermentation capacity.
Clean Food Group has 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”.
“With this acquisition, CFG is uniquely positioned to produce microbial oils at commercial scale, significantly reducing the capex required to supply sustainable oils and fats at competitive price points to agricultural equivalents across food, cosmetics and petfood markets,” the company said.
CFG’s go-to-market product is an equivalent to high oleic palm oil, with an equivalent nutritional and fatty acid composition, which it says delivers a 90% reduction in greenhouse gases when compared with traditional palm oil.
The oil has been designed as a drop-in ingredient that can be readily substituted in baked goods, confectionery and cosmetics. 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.
Earlier this month, CFG received regulatory approval for its Clean Oil 25 product to be used as a cosmetic ingredient in the UK, Europe, and the US.
“With this acquisition, we have fast-tracked our route to market, leapfrogging the traditional, capital-intensive path from pilot to demo to new build commercial plant, which can take years and cost upwards of $100m,” said Alex Neves, CEO of CFG.
“With commercial-scale validation already established, we’re ready to capitalise on the $20bn market opportunity ahead,” he added.
The company – founded in 2022 – plans to launch a Series A funding round in the first half of next year.
“This is not just the opening of a fermentation plant, it is the dawn of a new era in UK biotechnology, one that places the Liverpool city region at the beating heart of the new bioIndustrial revolution,” Neves said.
Bill Thurston, former managing director of bakery ingredients suppliers Dawn Foods, CSM Bakery and CFG NED, has been appointed head of the Knowsley facility. He previously led the acquisition of Unilever’s edible oils and fats business as CEO of CSM, and served as MD of Arkady CraigMillar.
“With my 30 years of experience in commercial and food manufacturing, I look forward to rapidly establishing this site as a global leader in sustainable alternatives to tropical oils,” Thurston said.
Last year, CFG secured a £2.5m funding boost from climate-specific UK venture capital fund Clean Growth Fund. In 2023 it saw investment from global lipid, nutrition and frozen bakery company Alianza Team. It had previously received more than £900,000 of funding from cellular agriculture venture capital firm Agrinomics, as well as Doehler Group and Seed Innovations. It has raised a total of £13m in funding to date.
The yeast strain used in CFG’s production of the palm oil alternative was developed using a non-genetically modified process similar to plant breeding. The company’s biotech was born out of eight years of research by Professor Chris Chuck, technical lead at Clean Food Group and the University of Bath.
“From millilitres to a million litres – a quite literally huge milestone for Clean Food Group,” Chuck said.
“Once fully operational, this site will enable us to directly manufacture our oils and yeast products at a huge scale, creating real impact, right here in the UK.”
No comments yet