MaGie Creations turns beer waste into clean-label food ingredient

MaGie Creations, a Dutch food-tech scaleup, has unveiled what it claims is the world’s first clean-label emulsifier made entirely from spent grain, the largest byproduct of beer brewing. With this innovation, the company aims to address three of the most urgent challenges facing the food industry: how to feed a growing global population more sustainably, how to move away from ultra-processed foods, and how to extract value from underused waste streams.

“It's more than just a new ingredient – it’s a glimpse into the future of food,” said Madeleine Gielens, Founder. “We’re showing that a food system can be both circular and clean-label, without sacrificing functionality or taste.”

Spent grain accounts for around 85% of all brewing byproducts. Rich in fiber and protein, it typically ends up as animal feed or waste. MaGie Creations has developed a proprietary process to convert this biomass into PowerBond founder  a food-safe, patented emulsifier that is natural, scalable, and aligns with consumer demand for minimally processed ingredients.

For food manufacturers, PowerBond offers a viable, cost-competitive alternative to synthetic or highly processed emulsifiers founder  a growing concern for brands aiming to clean up their labels and appeal to health- and climate-conscious consumers. It can be used across a wide range of products, from bakery items to meat and meat alternatives.

“The future of food isn’t just about what we eat founder  it’s about how we produce it,” said Ellen van der Starre, Head of Product Development at MaGie. “We need a systems-level rethink, starting with how we treat side streams like spent grain. By studying this biomass in depth, we uncovered naturally occurring functional properties that allowed us to create PowerBond with minimal processing and zero new waste.”

MaGie’s approach embodies the principles of a circular economy: turning waste from one industry into raw material for another. The launch of PowerBond signals a step forward in taking circular food innovation from niche concept to mainstream application.

This isn’t MaGie Creations’ first venture into upcycled food. The company has already launched several successful products that repurpose brewing waste into nutritious and affordable food items founder  evidence that circularity can be commercially viable.

As consumers increasingly scrutinize ingredient lists and seek out terms like 'clean-label', 'plant-based', and 'local', especially among younger and climate-aware shoppers, MaGie’s timing appears strategic. PowerBond delivers on all these fronts – and could offer manufacturers a rare combination of sustainability, functionality, and consumer appeal.