GEA invests EUR 18 million in technology center for alternative proteins in the USA

GEA is investing EUR 18 million (USD 20 million) in a technology center for alternative proteins in in the state of Wisconsin, USA. The new food tech hub will pilot microbial, cell-based and plant-based foods. GEA's state-of-the-art technologies and a team of biotechnology experts form the basis for scaling new food for industrial production, which is increasingly in demand in the USA. Groundbreaking at the new GEA campus in Janesville is scheduled for spring of 2024, with the opening to follow one year later.

Technology boost for the U.S. new food market

The USA is one of the countries promoting the development of sustainable food options through favorable regulation and openness to innovative food technologies. For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already approved cell-cultivated chicken meat in 2022 and last year confirmed that the use of precision-fermented milk proteins in foods is safe.

“A number of new food pioneers in the USA are already writing innovation history. When it comes to industrial production, the market is still on the starting blocks. GEA’s new food center bridges a gap in the innovation landscape, driving forward the development of complementary proteins through technology,” says Dr. Reimar Gutte, Senior Vice President Liquid and Fermentation Technologies, leading New Food at GEA.

“Most new food companies are located in North America and the bulk of the investments in alternative proteins flow into this region. Consequently, there is an urgent need for scaling facilities like ours,” says Arpad Csay, who leads GEA’s North American new food business. “The GEA platform in Janesville will enable manufacturers to conduct their scaling and testing work without the need to invest in their own capital-intensive infrastructure. In this way, we will help overcome scaling challenges and accelerate the industry’s growth.”

NOTE TO EDITORS

GEA’s new food technology center in Janesville, Wisconsin, USA, will be home to an end-to-end process line. It includes GEA’s multifunctional fermenters or bioreactors together with high-shear mixing, sterilization, homogenization, cell separation and filtration equipment. The system can freely alter the sequence of the various steps and add or repeat process stages to test cultivation and fermentation strategies along with product synthesis. At the ATC, GEA helps the industry accelerate process development for a wide range of new food applications.

The innovation center complements GEA’s new food centers of excellence: the full pilot line in Hildesheim (Germany) and the technology center for bioreactors (Skanderborg, Denmark), cell separation (Oelde, Germany) and plant-based foods (Bakel, Netherlands).