Cargill scooped two of the nine awards presented at Fi Europe’s Innovation Awards, which took place last week at Fi Europe in Frankfurt, celebrating food and beverage innovations across categories ranging from dairy alternatives to pet food innovation.

Cargill Indulgence Redefined – a confectionery alternative to chocolate developed in collaboration with Voyage Foods – won the Future Foodtech Innovation Award. Voyage is decoupling foods from traditional source raw material — creating new alternatives to the food and drink we love while striving to be more sustainable, scalable and cost effective.

The backbone of Cargill Indulgence Redefined is Voyage’s patented technology, based on gently roasted and processed regionally available raw materials, providing new alternatives to indulgent treats with a focus on sustainability, fully plant based and with no nuts in the recipe formulation. Described by the judges as “a revolutionary toolkit”, this breakthrough technology offers a range of delicious alternative solutions to cocoa, hazelnut and peanut-based products for bakery, chocolate confectionery, ice cream, and cereals.

“The world around us is changing, with a rapidly growing population and a growing demand for more sustainable foods. We need to develop a future-proof food model capable of efficiently replicating consumers’ favorite food products in a more sustainable way,” explains Anne Mertens-Hoyng, Cargill Category Leader for chocolate confectionery, and ice cream. “Our unique confectionery alternative to chocolate strives to be planet-friendly with a focus on sustainability, offering consumers the taste they love, without the cocoa.”

Cargill was also recognized in the newly created Pet Food Innovation Award for its ultra-concentrated TruPet postbiotic, which unlocks gut health, immunity, and vitality benefits by nourishing a rich gut microbiome.

For just a fraction of one percent of a finished product formula, TruPet can help pet food brands innovate and differentiate because it retains efficacy through modern pet food processing conditions like retort, extrusion, and high-pressure, avoiding microorganism survivability challenges experienced with other health ingredients.

Dr. Mark Franklin from Cargill, explains, “The pet food industry has undergone a massive transformation in recent years. Pet parents now have more nutrition choices than ever and are adopting a ‘good for me, good for my pet’ mindset. To meet rapidly evolving consumer demands, Cargill’s TruPet ultra-concentrated postbiotic is a single ingredient that supports multiple health benefits that consumers highly value.”

Cargill presence at FiE 2024 highlighted several prototypes to demonstrate its continued investment in innovation. Cargill is committed to partnering with new players who offer new technologies and capabilities, offering scale and breadth of experience to turn ideas into reality.