Feasibility and scale up of solid-state fermentation for sustainable cocoa-alternative ingredients

Introduction

Fermtech is a biotechnology company developing sustainable food ingredients through industrial fermentation. Its work focuses on transforming food and drink industry side streams into high-value, sustainable ingredients for use in food manufacturing.

With support from IBioIC, Fermtech partnered with Abertay University on an industry-led project to validate and strengthen its solid-state fermentation platform and accelerate its route to market.

Challenge

Global cocoa supply is under increasing pressure from climate change, rising costs, and environmental concerns. Food manufacturers are looking for alternatives that are more sustainable, resilient, and affordable - without sacrificing flavour or quality.  

At the same time, Scotland’s brewing and distilling sectors generate large volumes of nutrient-rich by-products that are currently under-utilised. The challenge was to show that these materials – initially focussing on grain-based side streams could be reliably transformed into consistent, food-grade ingredients at scale. 

Solution

Through this collaboration, Fermtech and Abertay University worked together to scale and validate Fermtech’s fermentation process using genuine brewing and distilling co-products.  

This work led to the development of Koji Flour - a fermented ingredient that demonstrated the platform’s ability to deliver desirable flavour, functionality, and consistency at scale. 

Crucially, the project established the core process parameters, technical robustness, and scalability of the platform. These foundations were essential for extending the technology to other feedstocks beyond grains. 

The partnership combined Fermtech’s commercial vision with Abertay’s scientific expertise, allowing the technology to be assessed and strengthened in a realistic production setting. 

Outcome

The project successfully demonstrated that Fermtech’s fermentation platform is robust, scalable, and suitable for commercial food ingredient development. It resulted in the creation of Koji Flour and validated the core technology underpinning Fermtech’s product pipeline. 

While cocoa husks were not used within this project, the learnings and process validation directly enabled Fermtech to extend the platform to new crop side streams – leading to the later development of Koji Coco™, made from cocoa shells. 

The collaboration strengthened Fermtech’s intellectual property position and helped unlock further investment for continued growth. 

The results of this feasibility study were pivotal in enabling Fermtech and Abertay University to continue their collaboration through an Innovate UK Launchpad funded project. 

The project also demonstrates how industrial biotechnology can help Scotland build a more circular food system — reducing waste, lowering carbon impact, and creating skilled jobs in sustainable manufacturing and food innovation.