NETHERLANDS – Alternative protein company Enough has broken new ground on the construction of its “first of its kind” protein factory, touted as the world’s largest non-animal protein farm.
The factory to be built in 2022 will have an initial capacity to produce 10,000 metric tons of mycoprotein per annum, the equivalent of more than five cow’s worth of protein every hour.
The 15,000 square meter facility is co-located alongside the Cargill facility in Sas van Gent in the Netherlands and is expected to initially create 25 new jobs.
The company expects its headcount to double as it plans to expand capacity to more than 50,000 metric tons of capacity by 2027.
Meanwhile, the food-tech company notes that its location and collaboration with Cargill will ensure the most efficient feed source, as well as supporting zero-waste advantages of Enough’s product.
“Demand for non-animal protein is forecast to grow at 15,000 metric per day for the next 5,000 days,” highlights Jim Laird, CEO of Enough.
“Enough uses scalable technology to contribute towards this protein transition, and work with customers who share our hunger and passion for great tasting products that taste as good as and cost not more than the animal alternative.”
Enough produces mycoprotein, branded as Abunda, by fermenting fungi using renewable feedstock- a process that is said to be scalable with any locally grown feedstock.
Using fermentation to meet future food protein needs is already widely recognized as being the most effective solution to feed a growing planet.
Over the last year, the process has been trialed by other industry players to convert industrial carbon dioxide emissions into high-grade proteins for human and animal consumption.
Its potential to produce sustainable food for millions of the world’s population has caught the interest f the European Union making it one of 11 Flagship projects which have support from the circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking (BBI JU).
According to Food Ingredients First, the Enough project has received €16.9 million (US$19.8 million) funding from BBI JU as part of project Plenitude, which involves partners from the full food value chain.
With the future of food being closely tied to alternative proteins, the food-tech specialist plans to extend beyond Europe with a growth over 1 million metric tons by 2032.
This is the equivalent of replacing 5 million cows and over 1.2 billion chickens, reducing more than six million metric tons of carbon emissions or the equivalent of planting over 30 million trees, it notes.
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