FINLAND— Finnish foodtech company, Fazer is working towards securing a sustainable future cocoa supply by exploring alternative future sources of sustainable cocoa and exploring the potential of cell culture as a farming method.
Cocoa is the heart of Fazer’s popular chocolate Karl Fazer Milk Chocolate or “Fazer Blue”, with the company producing more than 13 million tablets of it alone each year.
Given the importance of the ingredient to Fazer, the company recognizes that its production faces some significant challenges as climate change threatens the traditional cocoa growing areas.
Thus, one of Fazer’s main sustainability priorities is to ensure the sustainable management of cocoa. This means working to secure profitable agriculture, improve the well-being of cocoa communities and use natural resources in a sustainable way.
While currently, all of Fazer’s cocoa comes from ‘sustainably managed sources’ in Ecuador and West Africa, the company recognizes that looking to the future there is also a need to explore alternative sources for cocoa.
Cellular agriculture has the potential to uncouple cocoa production from the use of land. The production takes place instead in bioreactors under controlled conditions.
For this reason, the company has partnered with researchers at VTT to investigate the use of cellular agriculture techniques as a possible future method of growing cocoa.
According to VTT Research Team Leader, Dr Heiko Rischer, this approach can increase resource efficiency and cut land use requirements. “Cellular agriculture means biotechnological production instead of farming, with minimal land and other natural resources required for the production,” Dr Heiko explained.
Today, cocoa tends to be grown in forest areas and its production is often associated with deforestation and forest degradation, with about 1% of total forest loss linked to cocoa production for the period 1988-2008.
While this figure is relatively small compared to some other crops, in the main producer countries, cocoa has been a significant driver of forest loss.
Cellular agriculture has the potential to uncouple cocoa production from the use of land. “The production takes place instead in bioreactors under controlled conditions,” Dr Heiko noted.
The first cocoa ingredients have successfully been produced using this method and Heli Anttila, VP of New Product Development at Fazer Confectionery, said the research is now being expanded.
Fazer wants to be an innovative forerunner and the group invests in research and development according to its strategic priority to accelerate growth through innovations, trendy categories and foodtech.
Recently the company started its commercial operations producing xylitol from oat hulls in Lahti, Finland, after three years of investing in oats derivatives. This is a patented innovation utilizing a novel technology developed by Fazer, making the product and the production process completely unique.
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