Bühler and the food technology research institute DIL have expanded their partnership for the development of alternative protein products, opening the Technology Center Proteins of the Future.
The institute’s technology centre in Germany provides research, test, and production infrastructure for the development of sustainable-protein food products. It’s now operational and ready to receive requests from customers.
“The opening of the Technology Center Proteins of the Future emphasizes the strong partnership we have forged with DIL in a very short time frame. With our combined expertise we are making a vital contribution to closing the protein gap,” said Stefan Scheiber, CEO at Bühler Group.
"The proteins of the future must be sustainable. Resource consumption in their production must be kept as low as possible through appropriate processing and products to meet the expectations of responsible consumers," said Volker Heinz, Director and CEO at DIL.
Plant-based proteins can contribute to solving the current sustainability challenges, while growing consumer demand for healthy and sustainable food products, particularly alternatives to animal proteins, represents an opportunity for the food producing industry.
“The centre with its advanced technological setup and expert teams assists our customers in the food industry as well as start-ups to fully realize the potential of new plant-based proteins and develop new healthy and environmentally friendly food products for a growing market,” said Johannes Wick, CEO Grains & Food at Bühler Group.
The Technology Center Proteins of the Future supports customers throughout the entire process from prototyping new products and upscaling of production processes to contract manufacturing for initial market phases and comprehensive consultancy services. Combined with protein value chain solutions from Bühler, ideas can be realised in complete plant solutions tailored to customer needs.
The centre is situated at the DIL Food Science and Technology Campus Artland in Quakenbrück, host to scientists, technologists and a growing number of spin-offs and start-up businesses.
The opening of the center is accompanied by the “Scale it up Innovation Challenge” jointly set up by Bühler, Cargill and Givaudan, hoped to foster innovations and solutions to close the protein gap. Start-ups can use the infrastructure from DIL and the partners to scale up their product innovations.
“The launch of the Technology Center Proteins of the Future is an important part of our focus on environmentally friendly food production for a growing world population and supports our efforts to achieve our sustainability goals,” said Stefan Scheiber. “I believe it will make a significant contribution towards a more sustainable future.”
