Addressing the next bottleneck in dairy alternatives
The Protein Brewery Secures €2.3 Million Grant to bring next-gen nutritious mycoprotein powder to dairy alternatives
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The Protein Brewery, together with an international food industry partner, has been awarded a €2.3 million grant from the EU LIFE Programme to scale and commercialize Fermotein® for use in dairy alternative products. The flagship ingredient Fermotein® is a nutritious mycoprotein powder that is minimally processed and naturally high in complete protein, prebiotic fiber and essential micronutrients and bioactives.
The EU LIFE Programme is the European Union’s funding instrument for environment and climate action, supporting projects at pilot and demonstration scale that measurably reduce greenhouse gas emissions while accelerating the deployment of sustainable technologies into the market.
Addressing the next bottleneck in dairy alternatives
Plant-based dairy alternatives are widely recognized as a pathway to lower greenhouse gas emissions. However, many products on the market today still fall short on nutrition, taste, and affordability — limiting mass-market adoption and long-term impact. This project directly targets that gap.
The Protein Brewery produces innovative food ingredients through fungal biomass fermentation — a unique, resource-efficient process that converts fungi into a nutrient-dense food ingredient with neutral flavor and excellent environmental profile. The company’s mission is to future-proof proteins by delivering ingredients that combine strong nutritional proposition, appealing sensory properties, and a significantly reduced environmental footprint.
Scaling Fermotein® for real-world applications
Within the project, The Protein Brewery will further optimize and scale its fermentation process to meet the taste and functional requirements of dairy alternative applications while delivering a substantially lower environmental impact compared to conventional protein sources.
In parallel, application and market validation work will be conducted with key players in the dairy alternatives sector to demonstrate consumer acceptance and preference. Additionally, targeted health studies will investigate the nutritional and health benefits of Fermotein® when applied in dairy alternative products.
“This grant will tremendously accelerate the scaling of our groundbreaking ingredient Fermotein®, significantly contributing to improving the sustainability and nutrition of the important dairy alternative market,” says Gilbert Verschelling", CTO of The Protein Brewery.
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