Bel and Superbrewed Food are entering a strategic collaboration to develop a line of cheese products incorporating Superbrewed Postbiotic Cultured Protein
Suresnes & Newcastle, 7th July 2022
- Bel will develop a line of cheese products incorporating Superbrewed’s Postbiotic Cultured Protein in its recipes, ensuring it delivers functionally, environmentally, and nutritionally interesting benefits to consumers.
- Given the protein’s many benefits and great potential, this exclusive collaboration will become a unique competitive lever. It will ally Superbrewed Food’s innovative ingredients with Bel’s unique cheese know how and keen understanding of the challenges facing the agri-food market and an ever-growing population’s nutritional needs.
- In keeping with its mission to offer healthier and responsible snacking products that are accessible to all, Bel thus pioneers the development of food innovations, on its three product territories – dairy, fruit and plant-based, including through working closely with best-in-class start-ups.
Today, Bel Group, a major player in healthy snacking with cheese brands such as Babybel®, The Laughing Cow® and Boursin®, and Superbrewed Food announce an exclusive strategic collaboration. This was negotiated by Bel Ventures as part of the Group’s strategy to pioneer the development of dairy and plant-based food innovations to meet the food challenges of tomorrow for a growing population.
After a screening process, Bel Ventures, in partnership with Bel’s R&D department, selected Superbrewed Food to accelerate on one of the Group’s technological bets: biomass fermentation. Thanks to the remarkable quality of this start-up’s ingredient, its lower environmental impact, and functionality offering many potential applications in cheese products, it is uniquely matched to Bel’s aim to scale up most promising technologies offering nutritional, environmental, and sensory advantages in its products for the benefit of people and the planet.
Superbrewed Protein is nutrient-rich protein ingredient made from microflora found in nature that convert plant fibers. This high-quality protein contains all 9 essential amino acids. It is a “whole food” because it is minimally processed to retain its natural nutrition beyond protein. For example, a thirty-gram serving meets the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s requirements for being a “good source” of five B-vitamins, including a full day’s supply of B-12, and a “good source” of six essential minerals, such as iron, phosphorus and magnesium.
This protein will be ready to ship from Superbrewed Food’s Delaware facility in the first half of 2023. Bel Group’s goal is to develop a full range of cheeses with this ingredient and be able to propose these new products to consumers very soon.
Bel Group Chief Venture Officer Caroline Sorlin said: “Pursuing our mission to offer healthy snacks for all, Bel innovates to support the changes in nutritional needs and meet the challenges of a sustainable diet for an ever-growing world population. We are very happy to enter this exclusive collaboration, which is testament to our pioneering role and acceleration on disruptive technologies. As a family business, we are also proud to have adopted an “open collaboration” model with over 100 partners, including start-ups, to stimulate and scale up their innovations and so prepare the future of food.”
Bel Group Research and Application Director Anne Pitkowski said: “We are accelerating on biomass fermentation at the R&D level for its environmental, nutritional and accessibility benefits, without compromising on taste and pleasure. Thus, we are very happy to work hand-in-hand with best-in-class startup Superbrewed Food and to be able to offer promising product innovations to consumers.”
Superbrewed Food CEO Bryan Tracy, PhD, said: “We’re honored to partner with Bel Group to lead the industry in the application of highly scalable alternative proteins for cheese. Given the global reach of their brands and inclusive “open collaboration” model, they are ideal partners for Superbrewed.”
About Bel
The Bel Group is a world leader in branded cheese and a major player in the healthy snacking segment. Its portfolio of differentiated and internationally recognized brands include such products as The Laughing Cow®, Kiri®, Babybel®, Boursin®, Nurishh®, Pom’Potes® and GoGo squeeZ®, as well as some twenty other local brands, have enabled it to generate sales of 3.38 billion euros in 2021.
Some 11,800 employees in some forty subsidiaries around the world contribute to the Group’s mission of providing healthier and more responsible food for all. Its products are produced in 29 production sites and distributed in nearly 120 countries.
About Superbrewed Food
Superbrewed Food is a nutrition and health company focused on the development of natural ingredients for both humans and animals based on a cultured fermentation alternative protein platform. Made from microflora native to our microbiome, our products deliver superior nutritional and functional benefits compared to other plant and microbial proteins. Superbrewed Cultured Proteinis sustainably produced, animal- and has no known allergens, non-GMO and is remarkably versatile in terms of applications in foods.
For more information on Superbrewed Food, visit www.superbrewedfood.com, or follow Superbrewed Food on Instagram @superbrewedfood.
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Bel press contacts
Havas Paris – Agathe Gauthier
[email protected] – +33(0)6.78.05.57.64
Superbrewed Food press contacts
Meghan Flynn, MS, RD
203.667.0241