From Air to Aisle: Fazer’s Trials Gas-Fermented Protein Snack & Drinks

Finnish food giant Fazer has teased a snack bar and two protein oat milk beverages made using Solar Foods’s fermentation-derived Solein protein.

How about some CO2 in your protein shake?

Fazer is giving attendees at Future Food-Tech San Francisco (March 13-14) a taste of the future, unveiling three new products made from Solein, the gas-fermented protein by fellow Finnish company Solar Foods.

The vegan lineup is part of Fazer’s Taste the Future series, which it introduced via a chocolate snack bar in Singapore. The newest innovations include a chocolate-hazelnut snack and two protein-packed oat milk drinks in chocolate and banoffee flavours.

The snack bar contains 7% Solein, while each of the drinks has 2% of the ingredient, with the Banoffee beverage racking up 18g of complete protein per serving. Additionally, the products are rich in iron, vitamin B12, and fibre.

Fazer, which is the majority shareholder in Solar Foods, is the first CPG company to introduce packaged Solein products in the US, after the protein was self-affirmed by the company as safe according to federal guidelines (although this food safety provision is facing a threat of elimination by new health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr).

Latest in a line of Solein showcases

The Taste the Future innovations are the latest in a list of product trials featuring Solein protein. The ingredient received novel food approval in Singapore in 2022, and debuted as part of a vegan chocolate gelato at Italian eatery Fico. It was the base of a line of mooncakes and ice cream sandwiches rolled out by Japanese food giant Ajinomoto in the city-state.

At California’s Natural Products Expo West last week, it exhibited Solein Protein Bites – Nut Mix Edition as a concept product to showcase the ingredient’s capabilities

Now, at Future Food-Tech, Fazer is looking to learn from the feedback from industry taste-testers, which will inform its efforts to refine and develop these products further. The company is also aiming to create more Solein-powered foods for a European launch in the coming years.

Solar Foods has already filed for novel food approval in the EU, and gave the region a taste of Solein last month, with Italy’s KelpEat showcasing high-protein snacks at the Pitti Taste food fair in Florence.

“By adjusting the amount of Solein and other ingredients, it’s easy to develop products to suit different consumer needs and preferences,” said Juan-Manuel Benitez-Garcia, chief commercial officer of Solar Foods.

“The products introduced by Fazer showcase how Solein excels as an ingredient in protein drinks and healthy snacking. Solein is now commercially available in Singapore and the United States, and we are on track on our estimation to receive the novel food approval in the EU in 2026,” he added.

Solar Foods looks to take Solein global

“These products showcase how extremely versatile and functional Solein is as an ingredient, offering endless possibilities for the food industry to replace traditional animal- and plant-based proteins,” said Benitez-Garcia.

The ingredient is made by feeding microbes on carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen instead of sugar. Doing so eschews the need for agricultural land to grow sugarcane, alongside any irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides. The result is a protein with emissions equal to just 1% of those generated by conventional meat, and 20% of plant proteins.

The microbes are grown in a liquid form, and later dried into an orange-yellow powder that is flavourless and has 78% protein, 6% fat, and 10% dietary fibre. Its macronutrient profile is said to be akin to dried soy or algae.

Solein is produced in Solar Foods’s commercial-scale facility, Factory 01, which can currently manufacture 160 tons per year. But it’s planning a much larger plant, Factory 02, which would be able to annually produce 12,800 tons of protein at a cost of €4.30-5.20 ($4.60-5.50) per kg.

The publicly-listed company recently received €10M ($10.6M) from the government as part of a larger financing deal for its facilities. To date, it has raised over €43M ($47M) in equity funding, and €30M ($32M) in debt financing.

“Solein provides superior nutrition with great taste, ticks off all major ‘free from’ claims, and is one of the most sustainable proteins in the market,” said Benitez-Garcia. “We can’t wait to see products made with Solein hit the shelves of stores and available for consumers all over the world.”

Other companies making protein from gases include Air Protein, Farmless, Arkeon Biotechnologies, NovoNutrients, and LanzaTech, among others.