Solein® Press Kit
Solar Foods and Solein in brief
Solar Foods is a food tech company founded in Espoo, Finland in 2017 as a spinoff from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University. Solar Foods was founded with a vision: to create sustainable solutions to the global food crisis. The company’s first product is Solein®, a food grown out of thin air.
SOLEIN IS:
65-70% PROTEIN
5-8% FAT
10-15% DIETARY FIBRES
3-5% MINERAL NUTRIENTS
Solein is produced in a bioprocess where microbes are fed with gases (carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen) and small amounts of nutrients. The bioprocess resembles winemaking, with carbon dioxide and hydrogen replacing sugar as the source of carbon and energy, respectively. The macronutrient composition of Solein cells is very similar to that of dried soy or algae.
Solein contains all the essential amino acids, provides iron and B vitamins and is exceptionally functional. It can be used with a wide variety of other ingredients: Solein vanishes into foods and doesn’t change the taste of familiar, everyday food products.
As its production is decoupled from the demands of traditional agriculture, Solein can be called the world’s most sustainable protein: it uses 100 times less water and 20 times less arable land than plant protein production, and creates only a fifth of the carbon emissions of plant protein. Solein can be produced virtually anywhere: deserts, Arctic regions, even Mars. In 2023, the company was one of the winners in Phase II of the Deep Space Food Challenge, a competition held by NASA and CSA that seeks innovative solutions to feed astronauts on long space missions.
Solar Foods received its first novel food approval for Solein in September 2022 in Singapore. In May 2023, Solar Foods and Singaporean restaurant Fico held the world’s first official tasting of Solein. The novel protein has since been also available for Singaporean consumers. In June 2023, Fico announced the Solein Chocolate Gelato; in January 2024 Fazer launched the limited-edition Taste the Future snack bar, powered by Solein.
Currently the company is finalizing its first commercial-scale production facility Factory 01, set to begin operations in H1 2024 in Vantaa, Finland. 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.
Videos
A vision of the future of food: the Solar Foods Manifesto
How the first taste of Solein in Singapore came together
Demystifying the bioprocess behind a protein grown out of thin air
Solar Foods CEO Pasi Vainikka explains the company’s core idea of possibilism
Download photo package
You can download a selection of press-quality photos of Solar Foods and Solein by clicking here. The download package is 147 MB.
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Press contact and inquiries
Laura Sinisalo
