GEA has invested €18m (US$20m) in a technology centre for alternative proteins in Wisconsin, US. The new food tech hub will pilot microbial, cell-based and plant-based foods. GEA’s technologies and biotechnology team will form the basis for scaling new food for industrial production. Groundbreaking at the new GEA campus is scheduled for spring of 2024, with the opening to follow one year later.
Technology boost for the US new food market
The US is one of the countries promoting the development of sustainable food options through favourable regulation and openness to innovative food technologies. For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already approved cell-cultivated chicken meat in 2022 and last year confirmed that the use of precision-fermented milk proteins in foods is safe.
“A number of new food pioneers in the USA are already writing innovation history. When it comes to industrial production, the market is still on the starting blocks. GEA’s new food centre bridges a gap in the innovation landscape, driving forward the development of complementary proteins through technology,” said Dr Reimar Gutte, senior vice-president of liquid and fermentation technologies, leading new food at GEA.
“Most new food companies are located in North America and the bulk of the investments in alternative proteins flow into this region. Consequently, there is an urgent need for scaling facilities like ours,” said Arpad Csay, who leads GEA’s North American new food business. “The GEA platform in Janesville will enable manufacturers to conduct their scaling and testing work without the need to invest in their own capital-intensive infrastructure. In this way, we will help overcome scaling challenges and accelerate the industry’s growth.”
Biologisation of the food industry creates need for new food training
Beyond testing and validating processes, GEA also intends to promote the training of biotechnology specialists in the 10,000 sq m building. Attached to the GEA site for homogenisers, separators, pumps and valves, which opened in Dec 2023, the new food experts will enhance knowledge sharing with other disciplines.
This project marks GEA’s second investment in a new food hub, which supports innovations from the lab to commercial-scale manufacturing. Prior to this, GEA had inaugurated its technology centre focusing on cell cultivation and fermentation in Hildesheim, Germany in Jun 2023.
New food: A growth driver for GEA and the food industry
As one of the food industry’s leading technology providers, GEA is at the forefront of the novel food movement, which addresses the challenges posed by the megatrends of climate change, food security and ethics as well as healthy nutrition. That is why new food has been identified as one of the growth drivers in the GEA Mission 26 strategy. One dedicated business line is working on technologies and full production lines for microbial proteins or proteins cultivated in bioreactors, plant- or fungi-based foods, as well as innovative hybrids combining plant-based products with proteins produced using biotechnology.
