Bel Partners With Climax Foods On Plant-Based Cheese Development

It aims to launch these new plant-based products in the US and Europe by the end of 2024.

The initiative will help Bel Group in balancing its portfolio, with the group seeking to offer 50% dairy products and 50% plant-based products.

Bel has also acquired an equity stake in Climax Foods to support the development of the latter’s solutions.

The partners said in a statement that they will leverage the power of data science and artificial intelligence (AI), along with their complementary capabilities and expertise to create plant-based cheese.

These products seek to offer nutritious, affordable, low carbon footprint and indistinguishable alternatives to their dairy-based counterparts.

Predictive analytics and AI will enable Climax Foods to explore animal-based foods at the molecular level and leverage this knowledge to develop plant-based versions that match their texture, flavour, and nutrition density.

AI-powered product development at Climax Foods will significantly reduce the time required to create plant-based recipes by scaling up quickly and effectively.

Dr Oliver Zahn, CEO and founder of Climax Foods Inc., added, “AI and data can be game changers in food in terms of delivering optimal taste and texture while at the same time making it affordable and sustainable. Evolving recipes over time is what we’ve been doing for hundreds of years.

Climax Food’s team of food scientists have already created various prototypes with all the characteristics of specialty cheeses, including blue, brie, feta, and goat varieties, Bel Group noted.

Bel’s expertise and innovation capabilities, both in dairy cheese and non-dairy alternatives, and its reach in various markets will make this new range of cheese accessible to all through its brands.

ESM