Summary
- Profile Type
- Business request
- POD Reference
- BRGB20250206028
- Term of Validity
- 6 February 2025 - 6 February 2026
- Company's Country
- United Kingdom
- Type of partnership
- Outsourcing agreement
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
- Our client is a UK-based company that develops pre-mix ingredients from pulses for making vegan cheese. Their solution offers food companies (dairy companies, vegan brands, supermarkets, food service companies, and FMCGs corporates) a more sustainable and nutritious solution to make cheese. They are looking for vegan cheese manufacturers to produce cheese for them and for their client base (other food companies) under a toll manufacturing agreement.
- Full Description
-
The UK company develops technology and processes to create highly functional ingredients from pulses (peas, beans, and lentils) and other plant-based sources to produce pre-mixes for making plant-based dairy alternative products, starting with cheese.
They focus on pulses since these are the most sustainable crops on the planet and they are a great source of protein and fibre.
The main product is a pre-mix made from yellow peas for making plant-based cheese such as Cheddar, Gouda, and Feta types. By using this cheese mix, the company offers cheese manufacturers and food brands a solution that is healthier, more nutritious and sustainable. It allows reduced new product development costs and time, reduced ingredients list (cleaner label) and formulation costs, and easy integration with their existing equipment infrastructure.
However, not all food companies have their own cheese-making facilities. So, the UK company is now looking for potential partners that can use their pre-mix to make vegan cheese for them and for their client base.
They are seeking a toll manufacturing cooperation / outsourcing agreement. - Advantages and Innovations
-
The client has conducted extensive research and development to produce ingredients from pulses specifically tailored for making plant-based dairy alternatives like cheese. Their innovation covers the functionalisation of flours and blending with natural plant-based ingredients to create pre-mixes, and the design of processes and formulations for transforming those pre-mixes into plant-based cheeses.
Their core product, a cheese mix made from yellow peas, simplifies the cheese-making production process and costs for food companies by reducing the number of steps and time it takes to produce the cheese, and the total number of ingredients normally used in cheese formulations.
The pre-mix is made from European pulses which have a very well established and reliable supply chain; thus there is less reliance on imported ingredients which do not always offer full transparency and incur long food miles.
Existing vegan cheese products in the market rely mainly on chemically modified starches, tropical fats (coconut oils), and artificial additives. This means those products have very poor nutrition (no protein or fibre, and very high in saturated fats), in addition to having back of pack labels containing fifteen ingredients or more.
Using the UK company's cheese mix reduces or eliminates the need for chemically modified starches and artificial additives. All cheese makers need to do is blend the pre-mix with water, vegetable fats, and flavours to create the cheese. This means that cheeses made from pulses have higher protein and fibre content, 30% less saturated fats, and a lower number of ingredients in the final cheese product. - Technical Specification or Expertise Sought
-
The UK company is looking for a vegan cheese co-manufacturer(s) with the relevant production facilities to produce vegan cheeses for them in order to launch various product lines for sale.
To summarise the production capabilities needed, the following key steps need to be achievable from a processing perspective. Please note this could be a sole co-manufacturer with all capabilities in house or a combination with other partners with co-ordinated capabilities.
Certification:
- Food safety (including compliance to relevant geographical schemes)
- Vegan production capable to allow labelling
- Allergen management as necessary, i.e. clear knowledge of risks / cross-contamination
Storage / Receiving Goods:
- Ability to receive a mixture or pre-mixed dry material and wets (semi-solid fats) that will be delivered directly to production line for immediate use or be kept temporarily in storage before being used).
Vegan cheese manufacture capability:
- Mixing of dry blend with wets (water, fat)
- Capability to add semi-solid fats (melting point 26-30DegsC)
- Mix / cook capabilities (50-500 litres, solid mixing, dispersion, (0 – 2000RPM)
- Temperature ranges 25-130 DegsC
- Pressure (atm - 2 bar)
- Total cooking time range 5-60 mins
- Pouring or pumping of cooked wet mix into appropriate casings (400g – 10kgs)
- Rapid cooling of the material to 2-5 DegsC with no freezing in any part of the cheese (to comply with food safety regulation)
- Up to 2 weeks temperature controlled storage (2-5 DegsC) for stabilisation
- Cutting or slicing or grating of blocks (ideally all 3) to enable customisation for specific product lines
- Packaging: to suit product line with protective atmosphere
- Storage and distribution: format to enable relevant entry into supply chain.
Final details can be discussed with potential co-manufacturers. - Stage of Development
- Available for demonstration
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 2: Zero Hunger
- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- IPR status
- IPR applied but not yet granted
- IPR notes
- Combination of patents filed in the USA, UK, and EU, and secret know-how.
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
-
The UK company is looking to partner with a vegan (plant-based) cheese manufacturer under a toll manufacturing cooperation/ outsourcing agreement.
The partner will specialise in plant based dairy & food alternatives
They will act as toll manufacturer for the UK company to produce their unique vegan cheese as per the company specifications (see above), and they will support with the sourcing and managing of the other ingredients required for the process, as well as packaging materials (e.g. vegetable fats, flavours, relevant primary and secondary packaging). - Type and Size of Partner
- SME 50 - 249
- SME 11-49
- SME <=10
- Type of partnership
- Outsourcing agreement
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 08001002 - Food Additives/Ingredients/Functional Food
- 08001005 - Food Technology
- 08001003 - Food Packaging / Handling
- 08001004 - Food Processing
- Market keywords
- 07003002 - Health food
- 09004008 - Other manufacturing (not elsewhere classified)
- Sector Groups Involved
- Agri-Food
- Targeted countries
- All countries