Viking Malt’s activities around Innovation projects

Viking Malt is currently participating in two innovation projects focusing on plant-based food ingredients: Sustain-a-bite and FABulOATS. The projects are presented shortly below, and we encourage you to read more from the project’s websites.

Sustain-a-bite

Sustain-a-bite is a Horizon Europe project, developing innovative, affordable, and resource-efficient solutions for minimally processed plant-based foods.

The aim of the project is to develop minimally processed food alternatives using whole grains (barley, faba bean, and chickpea) and upcycled side-streams from the food industry.

The co-research project is coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, and the consortium includes 19 partners from 13 countries.

 

Viking Malt’s Role

In Sustain-a-bite project, Viking Malt is working and sharing expertise especially within the next areas:

  • Supplier of raw materials
  • Expertise in malting and germination
  • Plant-based market insights

Viking Malt’s commitment to innovation around plant-based food ingredients as well as sustainability aligns well with the project’s goals.

 

Funding and Timetable

The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme and by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). It was officially launched on 1 October 2024 and is set to end on 31 March 2028.

 

More Information

Please visit the project’s website: https://sustain-a-bite.eu/

FABulOATS

FABulOATS project responds to the growing global demand for plant-based foods and focuses on improving oats and faba beans for diverse food applications. The project combines modern genomic breeding technologies and in-depth raw material knowledge in collaboration with Finnish plant breeders and food companies.

The aim of the project is to improve the quality factors of oats and fava beans for the food industry. The project is expected to generate significant business and export opportunities. FABulOATS will provide tools and know-how to the food industry and plant breeders to support new product development and competitiveness.

The research is led by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and there are seven collaborators in the consortium: Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd., Fazer Finland Oy, The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK), Raisio Oyj, Vaasan Oy, Valio Oy and Viking Malt Oy.

 

Viking Malt’s Role

In FABulOATS project, Viking Malt is participating and sharing expertise especially within the next areas:

  • Expertise in raw materials diversity and quality
  • Relation between quality traits and food & drink applications

Viking Malt’s experiences with faba bean ingredients as well as processing oat on an industrial scale are big advantages in this project.

 

Funding and Timetable

The project is funded by the project’s participants, and Business Finland Co-research as a part of Valio Food 2.0 project ecosystem. The project duration is from 1 January 2025 to 28 February 2027.

 

More Information

Read more: https://www.luke.fi/en/projects/fabuloats

Oiva