Soufflet Malt and Eat The Truth target cocoa and alcohol alternatives with fermented grain platform

Soufflet Malt has partnered with foodtech company Eat The Truth to develop fermented grain-based ingredients for food and beverage manufacturers, initially targeting cocoa applications and non-alcoholic drinks.

• Soufflet Malt and Eat The Truth have partnered to develop solid-state fermented grain ingredients, initially focusing on cocoa applications and non-alcoholic beverages.
• The companies will combine Eat The Truth’s flavor development platform with Soufflet Malt’s industrial footprint of 35 malthouses and 3.6 million tons of annual capacity.
• The partnership will target roasted, cocoa, coffee, umami and kokumi profiles, with further potential applications across confectionery, baked goods, sauces and beverages.

The agreement brings together Soufflet Malt’s malting, fermentation and industrial production capabilities with Eat The Truth’s solid-state fermentation and flavor development platform. The companies said the aim is to create food-based ingredients that can deliver complex flavor profiles while addressing cost and supply pressures around conventional raw materials.

Cocoa is among the first areas being explored. Prices rose sharply during 2024 and 2025 before falling in early 2026, creating significant challenges for manufacturers exposed to fluctuations in the commodity.

Using malt as a substrate for solid-state fermentation, the partners are developing ingredients capable of producing roasted, cocoa, coffee, umami and kokumi notes. Potential applications include chocolate confectionery, baked goods, sauces and beverages.

Rather than relying on artificial flavors or additives, Eat The Truth's approach uses food-grade ingredients and fermentation to generate flavor during processing.

The second initial focus is non-alcoholic beverages, where the companies see an opportunity to use fermentation to create more complex flavor profiles as consumer demand for alcohol alternatives continues to develop.

According to figures cited by the partners, 71% of Europeans report reducing their alcohol consumption, while one-quarter of consumers aged 25 to 35 have stopped buying alcohol altogether.

The collaboration forms part of Soufflet Malt's MALTiply 2030 strategy, through which the company is seeking to expand the use of malt into markets beyond its traditional applications.

“This partnership aligns with our MALTiply 2030 strategy to accelerate our expansion into adjacent markets and develop new, high-value-added solutions for the food and beverage industry,” said Laurent Debande, Chief Growth and Innovation Officer at Soufflet Malt.

“By unleashing the flavor of malt as a natural, versatile and sustainable ingredient, we rise to the challenge of manufacturers seeking simpler ingredients, authenticity and richer taste experiences. This partnership combines our expertise in fermentation with Eat The Truth’s approach to flavor creation using food ingredients. Together, we will accelerate the development of new solutions for our customers and bring them to market at scale.”

Soufflet Malt operates 35 malthouses across 20 countries and has annual production capacity of 3.6 million tons, providing the partnership with an established route toward industrial-scale manufacturing.

Eat The Truth, a foodtech platform created by The Mediterranean Food Lab, specializes in developing food solutions through solid-state fermentation. Founded by chefs and supported by a network of more than 300 partners across Europe, the company combines fermentation with culinary R&D and flavor development to create ready-to-use ingredients for manufacturers.

“This partnership sets a new standard for food ingredients: delicious, honest, innovative solutions designed from the outset for industrial-scale production,” said Yair Yosefi, Co-founder and CEO of Eat The Truth.

“By combining our fermentation expertise with that of Soufflet Malt, we’re helping manufacturers go beyond conventional flavor solutions to create richer, more innovative products using real food ingredients. Today, we’re the only ones capable of offering our partners better taste, clean labelling, and a more attractive rate.”

The companies plan to provide manufacturers with support spanning flavor creation, sensory validation and prototyping through to industrialization. The intention is to develop flavor profiles with large-scale production requirements considered from the outset, rather than addressing scale-up after a concept has already been developed.

While cocoa and non-alcoholic beverages will provide the first commercial focus, Soufflet Malt and Eat The Truth expect to explore additional food and beverage applications as the partnership develops.

That could broaden the role of malt beyond brewing and traditional malt-based products, using fermentation to alter its sensory characteristics for specific applications. The companies are particularly interested in applications where manufacturers are seeking alternatives to volatile or constrained raw materials while retaining recognizable food ingredients on product labels.

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