What does Solar Foods do?
Solar Foods is a Finnish food technology and hydrogen fermentation company on a mission to revolutionise global food production.
Solar Foods’ first product is a protein-rich microbial powder, Solein®, that is grown using carbon dioxide and electricity. Solein is a groundbreaking novel food which doesn’t require agriculture, or land in general, to grow. Without the limitations of traditional farming, this method of food production has the potential to transform the sustainability, availability and transparency of what we eat and where food can be produced.
While Solar Foods main focus is on helping transform the food system on Earth, the company also looks to help humanity reach the stars. Solar Foods’ Space & Resilience business researches and develops the possibilities of producing Solein in outer space. Beyond Solein, Solar Foods is researching and developing other potential products that the company’s technological platform could create.
What is the status of the company’s operations right now?
Solar Foods began operating its first commercial-scale production facility, Factory 01, in April 2024. The factory is located in Finland, just ten minutes from the Helsinki airport and half an hour from the Helsinki city center. We estimate Factory 01 will be able to grow a maximum of 160 tons of Solein® annually, scaling up our output a hundred-fold and taking the novel protein’s production to commercial levels.
Solein received its first novel food regulatory approval in September 2022 in Singapore from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). This allows for the sale of food products containing Solein in Singapore. Solar Foods has filed for novel food dossier for Solein in other key markets such as the EU and UK and plans to seek GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status assessment for Solein in the United States.
Our next aim is ramping up Solein production with Factory 01. We expect this will also give us a great deal of data and insight into how the production process scales, all information that we can use in upcoming facilities that will scale up production further.
As for the next novel food regulatory approvals, local agencies work in different ways in each market; this means we cannot say with certainty which one will grant the next approval for Solein. Our aim, however, is to enter the United States market in late 2024.
What was the inspiration behind Solar Foods?
Solar Foods was founded to commercialise the research that was carried out in VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University (Lappeenranta University of Technology). The founding team wanted to develop a solution for converting CO2 captured from the air into edible calories (food) in order to reverse the effect of all of the released CO2 from burning fossil fuels. To achieve such a complex task, a living single-cell microorganism was identified as the best converter for the job.
After the proof of concept at VTT, Solar Foods was founded in November 2017 and started operations in March 2018.
When do you expect we can see Solein on the market?
Solein has been introduced so far in food products in limited editions in Singapore, such as the Solein Chocolate Gelato and Fazer’s Taste the Future snack bar.
With the start of our first commercial-scale production facility, Factory 01 in Spring 2024, we expect to be able to raise annual Solein production to a maximum of 160 tons. This means the production of new Solein-powered food products will be possible on a whole new scale in the near future.
Solar Foods is seeking novel food regulatory approvals for Solein on several key markets, such as the EU, the UK, and the United States. The company’s aim is to enter the United States market in late 2024.
Solein received its first novel food approval in Singapore. Why did you want to take Solein to Singapore first?
Singapore is one of the most efficient and progressive adopters of novel food in the world. Solein was granted novel food regulatory approval in Singapore in 2022. We have submitted novel food applications in global key markets and the rest will follow later.
Singapore is also a global living laboratory for new foods and food technologies owing very much to its unique food heritage that melts together Malay, South Chinese, Indian and Western cooking traditions. It is also a highly interesting market for Solein as it resonates well with what Solar Foods represents: Singapore has a technologically advanced society, a keen interest in technological innovation, a high level of education, ambitious environmental targets and strategies to increase its locally produced food supply.
Which market are you heading for next?
Solar Foods is seeking GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status assessment for Solein soon in the United States, and applications for novel food authorisation have been filed earlier in other key markets such as the UK and the European Union.
Local agencies work in different ways in each market; this means we cannot say with certainty which one will grant the next approval for Solein. Our aim, however, is to enter the United States market in late 2024.
Are you looking for new distributors?
If you are a distributor and interested in what Solein could offer your brand, contact us at info@solarfoods.com.
Who are the investors of Solar Foods?
A list of our biggest investors can be found on our website: https://solarfoods.com/investors-and-partners/
Solar Foods has a Nasdaq Green Equity Designation. What is that?
Nasdaq Green Designations are voluntary designations that support increased visibility toward investors looking for sustainable investments.
Both private companies and companies listed on the Nasdaq European markets can attain a Nasdaq Green Designation if they meet the criteria. To achieve the designation, a company needs to have more than 50 percent of its turnover deriving from activities considered green, and less than 5 percent of its turnover must be derived from fossil fuel activities. In addition, more than 50 percent of the company’s investment must be allocated to activities considered green.
Solar Foods received the Nasdaq Green Equity Designation – Private Company in April 2024. Read more about it here.
Does the designation mean the company intends to list itself on the stock market?
An IPO is one possibility and the Nasdaq Green Equity Designation allows us to explore that. However, listing on the stock market is just one potential future path for Solar Foods; here and now the designation is meaningful for us for how it bolsters and validates our company’s sustainability credentials.
What regions do you view as potential locations for your next factories?
We have not yet made decisions on where to expand Solein production – but in many ways, the options are limitless.
Solein production does not require arable land, is not dependent on daylight, and is very efficient in water use. Therefore, so long as there is a renewable source of energy available, Solein can provide nutrition for water-scarce areas and areas bereft of agricultural land or suitable farming conditions. It could be farmed in Antarctica or in the Sahara, paving the way for resolving global environmental problems and hunger.
For further information on where future protein production could be located, you can read this blog post