Melt&Marble Unlocks Commercial-Scale Production for Animal-Free Designer Fat, Sets Sights on US Market by 2025 – vegconomist
Melt&Marble, a Swedish precision fermentation company that specializes in designer fats for food and other applications, has revealed new headquarters with expanded R&D and production capabilities.
The facility features “state-of-the-art” molecular biology and microbiology labs, pilot-scale bioreactors, and a food application kitchen to test its “meat-like” fat in meat alternatives and other products.
Melt&Marble says that it has already successfully scaled its production to one cubic meter. However, with the new capabilities, the company believes it will be able to achieve commercial-scale production beyond its previous milestone.
Anastasia Krivoruchko, co-founder and CEO of Melt&Marble, says: “We are excited about the achievements to date. In the last months, we constantly improved key performance indicators related to rate, titre and yield, successfully achieving metrics relevant for commercial-scale and demonstrating the scalability of our process.”
2025 market launch
In addition, the company has secured a manufacturing partner (CDMO) that can produce hundreds of kilograms of fat per batch, with further expansion potential to tons in 2025.
The company has also revealed plans to launch its designer fat in the US market by 2025, where the FDA has established a streamlined pathway to obtain self-GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) status for precision fermentation ingredients and other novel foods. In Europe, the EFSA’s framework to approve novel ingredients is more stringent.
Animal-free designer fats
According to Melt&Marble, taste and flavor remain a challenge for meat alternatives because animal fat plays an essential role in meat’s palatability and mouthfeel.
The company’s first product, a solid fat that mimics the properties of its animal counterpart, will enable meat alternatives to compete with animal meat, rivaling its taste and texture. In 2022, the Swedish biotech raised €5 million in a seed funding round led by Lever VC, with participation from Be8 Ventures and Good Startup to further develop its revolutionary ingredient.
Melt&Marble explains that its technology allows precise control of the composition and characteristics of fats, including fatty acids, allowing it to create “designer” fats from scratch.
Precision-fermented fats offer significant potential for innovations in food production, particularly in creating sustainable food products by replacing cocoa butter, animal fats, palm oil, and other agricultural-derived lipids. In addition, these tailored fats could help meet consumer preferences and dietary needs.
Thomas Cresswell, CBO of Melt&Marble, shares: ”We see a great deal of interest from industry players in our technology both in Europe and in the US, because it allows us to tune the composition and properties of our fats and create animal-free ingredients that are both delicious and sustainable.”
