Most Disruptive Innovation

Awarded to a truly disruptive and innovative technology for making a new product or ingredient launched since 1 January 2015. Entrants will need to demonstrate their technology has been really disruptive, and changed the market conditions for a better food world.

Judging criteria

Technologies or initiatives that have enabled step change in the sector:

• Genuinely disruptive product, or ingredient made with a new technology, that changed the market conditions for a better food world;
• Demonstration of the added value for producers and consumers This might be in terms of health, nutrition, taste, mouthfeel, or sweetness or commercial, product or production benefits;
• Presentation of results and the impact on the sector.

Most Disruptive Innovation Winner – Feedkindâ Protein from Calysta

US based Calysta is recognised for FeedKindâ  Protein – a proprietary new fish and animal feed ingredient targeted at replacing fishmeal. Produced using the world’s only commercially validated gas fermentation process, Feedkind Protein is a natural, traceable and safe non-animal source of protein. Calysta has just announced the opening of a state of the art facility in Teeside, UK, to manufacture sample quantities of FeedKind Protein.

FeedKind Protein is a branded family of animal nutrition products, the first of which is FeedKind Aqua Protein for the aquaculture industry. FeedKind protein is a single cell protein produced from naturally-occurring micro-organisms via a natural fermentation much like making beer or bread. It is non-GMO and not an animal byproduct. FeedKind protein has a 71% protein content, an amino acid profile extremely similar to fishmeal, and can be included in aquaculture feeds at very high levels. 

FeedKind protein uses methane as its sole source of carbon and energy. Importantly, methane does not compete with the human food chain, nor does its production impact wild fish populations in any way. Calysta’s process requires virtually no water or arable land compared to agricultural protein sources, and has a similar carbon emission footprint as well.

As the globe moves toward 9 billion people in 2050, demand for protein is expected to rise 75% due to improved diets in the developing world. This growth can only be met via aquaculture, and innovation in feed ingredients is critical to supporting the industry.

Judge, Dr Anne Wagner, Corporate Research and Development Director of Tereos said: “The judges had a really hard time deciding from all the entries and really good innovations. We felt we needed to award an innovation which is truly disruptive both from a technological point of view and also one that identifies alternative sources of protein to meet the protein demands of a growing population.”

Dr. Alan Shaw, Calysta President and CEO, said: “We’re extremely pleased to have achieved this global accolade that recognises our preparatory technology as a game-changing innovation.

 “With FeedKind, Calysta has an exciting opportunity to offer traceable and safe protein that will sustainably help feed the world for decades to come.”