Bühler & Givaudan Open Plant-Based Protein Innovation Center In Singapore

Bühler, the food processing solutions giant joined forces with Givaudan, the world’s largest flavour and fragrance manufacturer to open an Asia Pacific (APAC) plant-based protein innovation centre in Singapore that will be managed by experts from both firms to increase the production and simultaneous consumption of sustainable plant-based products on a global scale.  

The protein innovation center at the Givaudan Woodlands location in Singapore will have connections to several R&D innovation centers and main hubs in Switzerland, where both companies are headquartered, to facilitate plant-based product development on a global level.

The center will combine Bühler’s dry extrusion and its new wet extrusion technology that lends a fibrous structure to the products that are similar to the feel of muscle, and holds more protein when compared to the dry extruded products. Along with this, Bühler’s processing equipment and Givaudan’s culinary capabilities will allow the center to produce 40 kilograms of plant proteins per hour.

Furthermore the facility features a development kitchen, storage facilities, meeting utilities, and a viewing area for visitors allowing them to tour the 400-square-meter place and witness the live workings of the production process.

In a press release seen by Green Queen, APAC president, Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing, Monila Kothari, said that the team is excited and proud to be a part of an agreemnet that is working for a sustainable food future in Singapore and the APAC region. “Through the Protein Innovation Centre, we aim to create an ecosystem that supports start-ups and food businesses in an environment of co-creation. The centre will provide them access to the expertise, networks and technology required to create authentic plant-based protein alternatives that meet consumer needs and expectations.” 

To co-create sustainable plant-based food experiences, the center opens its doors to food processing companies, start-ups and university researchers from across the APAC region.

Through the Protein Innovation Centre, we aim to create an ecosystem that supports start-ups and food businesses in an environment of co-creation. The centre will provide them access to the expertise, networks and technology required to create authentic plant-based protein alternatives that meet consumer needs and expectations

Monila Kothari, APAC president, Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing

Kothari added: “By bringing flavor solutions that are vegetarian, vegan, plant-based and natural, as well as technologies such as wet extrusion to Singapore and the region, we are helping to make plant-based foods more delicious, authentic, and accessible to business and consumers.” 

Chief technology officer at Bühler, Ian Roberts, said: “Great tasting and sustainable protein alternatives are an important contributor to feeding 10 billion people sustainably by 2050. The changes that need to happen to our protein value chains prior to that are so deep, they can only be achieved if the various partners of the food ecosystem start working together today.”

Additionally, businesses too will benefit through its co-creation and end-to-end process from product development and research to consumer testing. Even consumers will have the opportunity to create protein products that can be adapted across Asian cuisines.

Great tasting and sustainable protein alternatives are an important contributor to feeding 10 billion people sustainably by 2050

Ian Roberts,, chief technology officer at Bühler

“The protein innovation centre will not only enable the development of more plant-based protein products across Asia, but it will also ensure delicious products can be scaled to the production volumes required to create a positive environmental impact on our food chains,” concluded Roberts.

A recent DuPont report drew attention to the whopping triple-digit growth that the plant-based market in Asia will witness within the next five years due to increasing consumer demands for sustainable foods.

Apart from this, Givaudan recently launched its artificial intelligence(AI) tools that will help identify positive and negative flavour drivers that will facilitate the development of future products offering consumers new and fresh food options.

Lead image – new innovation centre, courtesy of Bühler.