ICL Group
Functional ingredients and novel plant-based solutions
Creating innovative, sustainable solutions in agriculture, food ingredients and industrial products is the mission of ICL Group. This multinational, which recently joined Foodvalley, knows that it can only be realised by collaborating with like-minded organisations.
“The strategy of Foodvalley is in line with our own goals regarding sustainable food production and food security,” says Julia Eifel, Front-End-Innovation Analyst at ICL Group. “Food Valley provides us a platform to interact and collaborate with several innovative partners in Europe such as Wageningen University & Research, early-stage start-ups and food corporations. Joining this ecosystem is therefore an important step for us.”
Innovative start-ups
Eifel and her team are especially interested in Foodvalley’s innovation theme the Protein Shift, including the Protein Cluster initiative. “ICL Food Specialties is committed to keeping up with the protein transition and innovating in areas beyond traditional meat alternatives. We are looking for strategic partners in the fields of functional plant-based ingredients, non-dairy products and meat substitutes. We are very interested to gain more insight into trends, start-up funding and collaboration, and promising food technologies,” says Eifel. In turn, ICL brings to the network its extensive knowledge and expertise on functional ingredients for protein management to create products with desired textures and stability.
Flexible solutions
ICL Group, with its headquarters in Israel and many R&D centres across the globe, is operating in four divisions: Industrial products, Potash, Phosphate solutions and Innovative Agro Solutions. “We are specialized in functional food ingredients such as phosphates, hydrocolloids and proteins. We position ourselves as solution provider for creating and optimizing texture and stability for meat, dairy and beverage products,” stresses Eifel. “We also have developed versatile plant-based protein solutions to create a wide range of meat- and seafood-like textures.”
FI innovation award
In 2019, ICL was awarded the FI Innovation Award in the Protein Category for their texturized protein extracted from fava beans. This year, the company established the ICL Planet Start-up Hub to cultivate innovative ideas, technologies and innovators in the domain of crops, nutrition and food.
