Asia Sustainable Foods Platform and Cremer JV’s first contract manufacturing facility brings alternative protein closer to Asian consumers

The Temasek-owned Asia Sustainable Foods (ASF) Platform and Cremer have announced a joint venture, Cremer Sustainable Foods (CSF), which has officially opened its first plant-based protein contract manufacturing facility in Singapore. The facility is located within LOGOS Food21, a high-specification food production building in the Tuas Food Zone.

CSF is one of the few contract manufacturers for alternative proteins located in Asia. As demand increases for healthier, more sustainable food options from consumers in Asia, CSF is well-positioned to manufacture plant-based alternative protein products in Asia, for Asia.

“We observed the insufficient availability of contract manufacturing capacity and capabilities for alternative proteins in Asia as compared to the US and Europe. Moreover, localized manufacturing would shorten the supply chain and reduce the carbon footprint of alternative proteins,” commented Mathys Boeren, CEO of ASF.

The 11,000ft2 facility will be able to manufacture up to 1,300 tonnes of plant-based protein per annum which is equivalent to approximately 4.3 million chicken breasts, and is one of the largest High Moisture Extrusion (HME) contract manufacturing facilities in Singapore.

HME is a nascent technology that allows for the production of plant-based protein products that resemble meat more closely in texture as compared to traditional plant-based manufacturing techniques, such as dry texturized vegetable proteins. The facility will augment Singapore’s local food manufacturing capacity and contribute to the country’s 30 by 30 vision of producing 30% of local nutritional needs locally, by 2030.

The contract manufacturing facility will also enable food-techs to accelerate their scale-up in an asset-light manner as they will be able to save on upfront capital, time and resources required to establish their own manufacturing facilities and operations.

“This facility will enrich our ecosystem by helping alternative protein startups optimize, scale up production, and launch their products in the region and beyond,” added Damian Chan, Executive Vice President, Singapore Economic Development Board. “We look forward to seeing more innovative alternative protein products being manufactured in Singapore.”

CSF will leverage Cremer’s deep industry experience in food manufacturing and operating HME facilities to provide capable and reliable service to plant-based protein food-techs. This is particularly valuable in Asia, where few companies have mature HME knowhow. CSF will also look to grow in scale with its food-tech customers to the rest of Asia.

CSF will complement ASF’s mission in accelerating the commercialization of sustainable foods in Asia, by being the go-to solutions provider to food-techs at every stage of their growth cycle. As part of its end-to-end offering, ASF is also building the Food Technology Innovation Centre (FTIC) that will feature R&D advisory, test kitchens and shared pilot scale equipment for product development. The pilot scale equipment at FTIC will be of compatible technology with CSF, and food-tech customers can tap on FTIC to develop new products which can then be manufactured at scale, with CSF.