Nosh.bio CEO: Affordability and accessibility crucial for mainstreaming animal-free food

08 Jul 2024 --- German start-up Nosh.bio uses fermentation to produce sustainable and scalable proteins, notably mycelium. CEO Tim Fronzek speaks to Food Ingredients First about the opportunities ahead in the animal-free food space and his predictions for the alt-protein sector. He also shares the company’s vision of becoming a protein player with a global footprint.

“We currently see a lot of interest in Germany and other European countries for our ingredients in the alt-meat and seafood spaces. But there is also interest in other verticals such as ice cream,” he says. “Interest is growing for our ingredients and there is a lot of potential ahead.”

Earlier this year, the company attended the Future Food-Tech in San Francisco. According to Fronzek, “It was the first time we left stealth mode and presented our ingredients in North America.”

“We showcased our offerings and had tastings with a few corporates that could be interested and also with a few potential investors. Again, the interest and excitement about what we do was comparably big, contributing to our desire to become a company with a global footprint.”

Animal-free ingredients 
Fronzek tells us there is a lot of potential for animal-free products in different verticals of the market. “With our ingredients, not only are they clean label, but we are improving the taste and texture of those products significantly and then also we bring this cost advantage.”

Nosh.bio is currently focused on meat and seafood analogs.“This allows us to bring an ingredient that is almost at cost parity with the animal-based ingredients.” It’s all about coming out with a sales price for end consumers that is affordable for the average household, he remarks. 

“For alternative proteins in general, what we have seen over the recent years was the first wave, if you like, of alternative proteins. But from my perspective, the solutions that we have at the moment are still not mass-market ready. We believe that what we can contribute is really needed to solve the current issues we see with alt-proteins.”

“If you look at the market rationals, just taking the meat market, for example, we speak about a market size of US$1.6 to US$1.9 trillion of revenues annually. Meat analogs do not even sum up to US$10 billion, so we are speaking about the market share that is less than a percentage, an insignificantly small number,” he says. 

He explains that the quality of alternative meats we can develop within animal-free products with given ingredients still needs to be competitive. “And also the price point is simply too high, even if you want to bring a small impact, you need to address the mass market, which means you need to offer something that is appealing to the average household.”

Sustainable methods
Fronzek says: “Even if the average household would be interested in switching their diets into a more sustainable one, they couldn’t afford to.”

“It’s impossible for the consumers to pay premiums on their day-to-day food products. Therefore, the alternative protein space needs to adapt in a way that we need to make the best use of these technological advancements, specifically within fermentation technologies and use this to develop products that are competitive in terms of quality finally but also affordable in terms of price,” he explains. 

One of the main drivers for starting Nosh.bio, in Fronzek’s words, was to “make sustainable nutrition affordable for everyone.” This is why the company has started looking at developing and producing alternative proteins through fermentation.

Additionally, he highlights that the food industry creates roughly 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, adding that its water consumption and land footprint are also significant.

“To put it simply,” he says, “there is the question of how we can build a food system that is more climate resilient, as well as being more sustainable.”

“Of course, it’s impossible to stop climate change, but we can contribute to slowing it down, and fermentation as a technology comes with many advantages specifically, in this regard.”

The cleanest label?
Nosh.bio’s mycoprotein delivers a muscle-like structure, allowing manufacturers to produce single-ingredient meat and seafood alternatives without extrusion or additives. The mycoprotein also has a neutral color and an umami taste. It provides manufacturers with a versatile ingredient with additional binding functionalities.

The company collaborates with food manufacturers to develop clean label ingredients for various F&B applications. 

“We are tackling the development of food ingredients, which brings improvements to food products in general,” asserts Fronzek. Nosh.bio’s CEO Tim Fronzek.

“So far, we are the only company in the world that can create single-ingredient meat analogs, which makes us very excited,” he underscores. “This unique contribution can disrupt how people produce alternative proteins.”

“Just because something is impossible today doesn’t mean it won’t be possible. Our production processes are also comparably efficient in terms of sustainability, meaning our ingredient is already almost at a cost parity with standard chicken and pork.”

Fronzek also says that by using Nosh. Bio’s protein, the company can also improve the characteristics of food products, showcasing the vast innovation happening in this space.

“It’s a super exciting and extremely interesting space to work within, one which convinces producers of food products that the ingredients are fascinating and a very useful tool,” he concludes. 

You can watch a video interview with Fronzek here. 

By Elizabeth Green