Fi Europe has announced the finalists of the Innovation Awards. Find out which companies and organisations made the cut thanks to their efforts to make food and drink products healthier, more sustainable, and more delicious.
The Fi Europe Innovation Awards celebrate the people, companies, and organisations breaking new ground in the food and drink industry and are a chance for the winners to receive the recognition they deserve for their achievements.
The finalists across the nine categories highlight the diversity of the food industry itself, ranging from large multinationals to small startups and contract research organisations.
The panel of judges, composed of esteemed industry professionals, will rigorously assess each nomination in the nine categories behind closed doors during Fi Europe and winners will be announced at the prestigious Innovation Awards ceremony on 19 November in Frankfurt during Fi Europe.
The judging panel, chaired by Prof. Colin Dennis, chair of the board of trustees at IFIS and the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF), was comprised of Michael Adams, head of product innovation at Campden BRI; João Brites, director of growth and innovation at HowGood; Nicolas Bordenave, research director at INRAE, Sandra Einerhand, nutrition science consultant at Einerhand Science & Innovation; Ian D. Healey, editorial director at Dr. Harnisch Publications; Nick Henson, food product developer; V. Krishnakumar, managing director at Giract; Efi Leontopoulou, manager of scientific and regulatory affairs at EAS Strategies; and Rosemary Maguire, managing director at Essence.
The category finalists of the Fi Europe 2024 Innovation Awards are:
This award recognises an organisation or company that has developed the best plant-based dairy alternative ingredient, or application based on a plant-based dairy alternative ingredient, in terms of sensory and physical properties or application costs.
ChickP Protein with its entry “ChickP Cracked The Code for Dairy alternative applications”, a protein that demonstrates high solubility, great flavour, and performance in non-dairy applications.
KMC with its entry “Unlocking stretch in plant-based cheese with new ingredient from KMC”, a potato starch-based solution for plant-based cheese that offers a long, thick stretch that stays stable across a wide temperature range.
Bunge with its entry “Bunge’s Beleaf Plantery: a sustainable, versatile, and unique fat system to replace dairy fat”, a plant-based ingredient designed to replace anhydrous milk fat (AMF) partly or fully based on shea, coconut, and rapeseed oil, matching the melting behavior and structuring properties of AMF.
Royal Avebe with its entry “The Plant-based Yogurt: TEXTURE takes centre stage with PerfectaSOL™ D600”. PerfectaSOL D600 is a texturiser derived from sustainable potato protein and starch that delivers a similar eating experience to traditional yogurt, offering full mouthfeel and creaminess.
This awards an organisation or company for creating a work environment that offers equal opportunities for all employees, irrespective of their gender, race, religious background, sexual orientation, and physical or mental ability. This award is open to non-exhibiting companies, organisations and associations.
Agronutris with its entry “Shared governance, enabling diversity and inclusion”, its organisational system where governance is shared among all employees. It has launched an emotional intelligence training program for all and it pays particular attention to gender equality and pay equity. It has also set up a hiring system which promotes diversity.
Roquette with its entry “Women@Roquette”, its internal network for gender diversity that plays a key role in promoting diversity and inclusion at every step of the employee journey, from recruitment and onboarding to training and development, leadership or career management.
Ingredion with its entry “Women of Ingredion Network”, an inclusive network that empowers BIPOC, white, LGBTQIA+ women, and women with disabilities, along with their allies (including men and non-binary individuals) to realise their full potential.
This award recognises an organisation or company that has developed innovative food manufacturing or packaging equipment which improves the manufacturing efficiency, reduces waste and/or enhances product safety.
Nutris with its entry “Fava bean processing in Nutris”. Based on licences for patented mild processing of various crops into high-value plant-based food ingredients, it was developed at the University of Copenhagen.
Planteneers with its entry “Steak 2.0: Plant-Based Meat Alternatives With a Layer of Fat and Marbling”, its functional systems from the fiildMeat and fiildTex series and Handtmann’s technology that enable manufacturers of plant-based meat alternatives to produce marbled cuts with a fine fibre structure.
GEA Process Engineering with its entry “GEA presents next generation RAY Plus batch freeze dryers for food applications”. This offers benefits in terms of energy efficiency and hygiene, providing a more flexible and efficient solution for the food industry.
This award recognises an organisation or company that has developed an innovative processing or bioprocessing technology solution or service, which has the potential to improve the production, the functionality and/or cost of food ingredients.
NIZO Food Research with its entry “NIZO High Throughput Protein Extraction Tool”. The tool miniaturises and automates an otherwise laborious process. With it, 24 seed varieties can be extracted automatically and analysed for their protein content and composition, aroma and taste profile.
Cargill with its entry “Cargill Indulgence Redefined - Confectionery Alternative. In partnership with Voyage Foods”, a range of cocoa, hazelnut and peanut alternative solutions for bakery, chocolate confectionery, ice-cream and cereals. The range is based on Voyage’s patented technology, gently roasting and processing lesser-used side stream raw materials.
Incredo with its entry “Incredo Sugar G2: Sugar-Based Sugar Reduction”. Incredo Sugar G2 is a clean-label sugar reduction solution that enables reductions of up to 70%, all while staying clean-label and delicious.
This awards an organisation or company for the development of the best ingredient or application in terms of proven contribution to digestive, cognitive, immune or physical health.
Prolactal with its entry “Digest easily with Goat MPC 80”. Goat MPC 80 is a premium goat milk protein concentrate with 80% protein in dry matter, offering a superior nutritional profile. It is rich in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and A2 beta-casein, making it highly digestible and suitable for those with A1 beta-casein sensitivities.
ADM with its entry “ES1 (Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347) postbiotic”. ES1 (Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347) is a postbiotic that is backed by preclinical and clinical studies on markers associated with gut health.
Novonesis with its entry “Discover your zen with MindAble 1714”. MindAble 1714 is a clinically tested probiotic that can support the body’s own ability to handle everyday stress and keep a healthy mood balance and can be added to product such as an energy bar, chocolate treat, frozen dessert or chocolate enriched cereal.
This award recognises an organisation or company that has developed the best ingredient or application specifically for the pet food category, in terms of sensory and physical properties or application costs.
Divaks with its entry “Innovative textured insect (mealworm) protein”. This innovative textured insect protein (TIP) consists of 71% protein, with dominating unsaturated fatty acids, rich in essential amino acids and low percentage of crude ash.
Gelita with its entry “PETAGILE”, an ingredient for the regeneration of joint cartilage of animals. The optimised bioactive collagen peptides of PETAGILE promote joint cartilage growth and thereby counteract wear on joints caused by aging and excess load.
Cargill with its entry “Modern Pet Diets Require Modern Ingredients to Keep Pace with Changing Consumer Demands” and its ultra-concentrated formula within the TruPet postbiotic range. The postbiotic helps pet food manufacturers enhance pet diets by nourishing a balanced and diverse gut microbiome and retains stability and efficacy through modern pet food processing conditions like retort, extrusion, and high-pressure.
dsm-firmenich with its entry “Veramaris Pets: the highest potency Omega-3 for pets, containing 60% EPA & DHA”. This ingredient is a sustainably sourced from natural marine algae that is a complete omega-3 solution for cats and dogs and contains 60% EPA and DHA.
This award recognises an organisation or company that has developed the best plant-based ingredient, or application based on a plant-based ingredient, in terms of sensory and physical properties or application costs.
Novonesis with its entry “Revolutionizing Plant-Based Meat: Vertera BioSolutions for Cleaner Labels and Authentic Taste & Texture”. This ingredient improves the texture and flavour of plant-based meat alternatives (PBMA) in a label-friendly manner.
AVEBE with its entry “Say Goodbye To Flimsy Coatings!” thanks to PerfectaSOL S 200, a potato protein isolate that offers irreversible gelation upon heating, which creates perfect adhesion between coating and substrate.
Lesaffre with its entry “Springer Proteissimo: a complete, clean, vegan protein for sustainable recipes”. This yeast protein produced by fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is sustainable, gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, and has a high digestibility score, high protein content, and well-balanced amino acid profile.
This awards an organisation or company that has developed the best ingredient or process in terms of enhancing the sensory experience of food products, such as taste, texture, smell and/or appearance, without significantly increasing application costs.
Phycom with its entry “Phycom's Algae Application in Chocolate” Its algae processing technique significantly improves the sensory qualities of vegan chocolate, providing a creamy mouthfeel, smooth texture, rich taste, and enhanced mouth-coating properties.
Novonesis with its entry “Novamyl BestBite: Discover a perfectly balanced bite”, a biosolution based on enzymatic technology that delivers a perfect balance of softness, moistness, and resilience and enhances the eating experience of freshly baked goods.
This awards an organisation or company for a measurable supply system that demonstrates environmental, economic and/or socially sustainable practices in the food and beverage industry.
Dossche Mills with its entry “Third party verified Terah Standard makes the difference in the journey towards 50% carbon reduction in flour”. Its third party-verified sustainability initiative, Terah Standard, is focused on cutting CO₂ emissions of wheat flour by 50% by 2030.
AAK with its entry “Empowering Women in Shea”. Through its AAK Kolo Nafaso direct sourcing programme, it has opened new opportunities for more than 240.000 of women in West-Africa to improve their livelihoods, together with those of their communities.
ADM with its entry “Leading the Way with ADM's Regenerative Agriculture Programme”. This programme supports growers in adopting regenerative farming practices that protect and improve soil health, biodiversity, climate and water resources while supporting farming business development.
AGRANA Fruit with its entry “Regenerative Agriculture Framework for Fruits” Its pilot projects in Mexico in 2023, for example, showed that the regenerative strawberry production contributed to 2.75% increase in yield with 50% less production costs, 77% less pesticides, 99% less fungicides, 58% less hormones, and 65% less carbon footprint.
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