Brussels, Belgium - 29 April 2024 – EuropaBio proudly announces the membership of Formo, a German SME dedicated to using microorganisms and fermentation bioprocesses to produce animal-free dairy products. Formo is in pursuit to strengthen Europe’s biotech competitiveness, food security and environmental goals.

Formo is leading in two neighbouring technologies:

Firstly, Formo is pioneering Micro Fermentation to produce animal-free dairy alternatives using koji protein. Micro Fermentation is the process of harnessing naturally occurring, non-GMO microorganisms to produce food ingredients, such as native proteins like koji protein.

Secondly, Formo has developed an advanced precision fermentation technology to produce novel, bioidentical animal proteins such as casein proteins.

Both technologies are used to make animal-free cheese products that taste just like their conventional counterparts. With their non-novel Micro Fermentation product line, Formo will be the first food biotech company to bring fermentation-made cheese products to European consumers this year.

This milestone represents a significant advance in Europe’s efforts towards long term resilience of food supply, competitiveness and achieving vital Green Deal objectives.

With Formo's membership, EuropaBio grows its role advocating for leveraging biosolutions in the food sector from Europe’s innovative SMEs and research base, and gives a voice to Europe’s competitive pathways for food production.

Dr. Claire Skentelbery, Director General of EuropaBio said “Formo is a European leader in novel foods and represents what Europe needs to achieve for resilience of supply, sustainability, and competitiveness for our food sector. EuropaBio will work with Formo to ensure that a safe and achievable pathway to consumers exists within the EU so that we all benefit from this amazing advance in food production.”

Raffael Wohlgensinger, Founder & CEO of Formo, said “As Co-founders of Food Fermentation Europe, we have come to appreciate the expertise and network that EuropaBio has developed over decades. The association cares deeply about advocating for disruptive biosolutions that can help fix our broken food system. We understand how important it is to provide policymakers with exposure to real-life products powered by biotech. We believe we can do that best with committed partners. Hence, joining EuropaBio was the next logical step for us.”