NoPalm scooped up first prize in the Most Innovative F&B Ingredient or Processing Technology category in 2021, with its solution to replace conventional palm oil with a lab-produced equivalent, reducing carbon emissions and saving tropical rainforests.
March 14, 2022
After receiving their award at Fi Europe, co-located with Hi Europe 2021, hosted live in Frankfurt, Germany, we caught up with Lars Langhout, CEO of .
During this interview, Langhout shared a bit more information on what NoPalm Ingredients is, and why it is on a mission to solve one of the world's biggest problems of replacing palm oil as an ingredient in food, cosmetics and detergents. Below are some of the highlights from the interview conducted on the showfloor at Fi Europe 2021 in December:
Q: What is NoPalm Ingredients?
"Our solution is microbial oil that we make through using specific yeasts and apply that with sidestreams. That can be anything from potato peels to rejected vegetables, as long as it contains sugars, fatty acids or alcohols."
Q: It sounds pretty incredible turning potato peels into palm oil. Is there any genetic engineering involved?
"There is not, no. [Our microbial oil] is non-GMO. We do not want to go into any GMO strain engineering whatsoever. We [also] want it to be vegan-friendly … we could use meat for example, but that is not something that we want."
After a career in strategy consulting, Lars Langhout made the shift to entrepreneurship. Chasing his dream of making a positive climate impact in the food value chain, Lars found his calling in NoPalm Ingredients. Lars lives in Amsterdam with his wife and they’re expecting a baby soon.
Want to learn even more about NoPalm Ingredients and where it all started? Read interview article.
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