With a mission to become Europe’s net-positive food tech champion, Heura announces a seismic shift in the plant-based food industry, with the debut of new patent-pending technology that generates never-achieved nutritional values without the need for food additives or E-numbers. With science and technology at the forefront of Heura’s strategic vision, the food tech startup now addresses the top unresolved challenges in the plant-based food industry; creating a superior sensorial experience with high value nutritional products, in categories where it hasn’t been technologically possible to date.
“While plant-based foods have taken great leaps forward the past few years, poor quality nutrition associated with processed foods has been a major barrier in its growth,” said Food Activist, CEO and Co-Founder of Heura Marc Coloma. “Our new patent-pending technology is here to redefine food processing and accelerate the plant-based protein transition. By focusing on high nutritional values with clean labels, we are not only creating an unprecedented competitive advantage, but also offering a new level of animal meat successors, foods that are superior to their traditional meat counterparts.”
Heura’s new patents mark a milestone for the plant-based food industry, providing a faster and more efficient way to design and process food products. By advancing scientific understanding of plant protein structures and developing predictive mathematical models for engineering design, the food tech start-up has created a new scalable technology to meet consumer demands. The proprietary technology is based on a novel thermomechanical technique, which uses heat and mechanical energy to shape or modify a material’s properties. That means well-defined mixing, controlled heat and cooling steps at specific pH ranges. The G.R.T approach enables Heura to evolve its product design and processing methods, delivering foods that are not only sustainable but also offer a superior taste and texture.
“We use a transdisciplinary approach to Science & Technology to overcome the greatest challenges the industry is facing. Our goals are ambitious. We are not aiming for small, incremental advancements based on cumulative improvements on what already exists, but rather exponential progress from breakthrough innovations,” said Isabel Fernandez, Science and Technology Director at Heura. “And those great problems can only be solved by research in the diverse, relevant scientific fields to jointly develop new fundamental understanding and technological innovations to address a common challenge.”
Heura has been hyperfocused on consumer-centric R&D since launch. It was the first company to create a 100% olive oil based fat analogue, which allowed it to bring the juiciness of traditional meat with 85% less saturated fat. The company engages in cutting edge research in collaboration with best-in-class scientific experts , leading academic and research institutions. Heura’s highly credentialed R&D team, which more than doubled in size over the past year, leverages the best techniques and knowledge in a wide range of scientific disciplines from cellular plant physiology, biopolymer chemistry, strain engineering to soft colloids, computational fluid dynamics and process modelling.
This is Heura’s first proprietary technology deriving from the Good Rebel Tech™(G.R.T.) platform, a new approach to food technology that will produce macro- and micro-nutrient dense foods in a sustainable manner that goes beyond what’s been technologically possible to-date. In Q3 2023, the mission-driven food tech company will leverage the new technology to launch a new line of 100% plant-based deli meats, advancing the protein transition, unlocking new plant-based food consumption moments for consumers and further increasing Heura’s market share. Looking ahead, Heura will also implement its new tech into its current range of enticing, healthy and sustainable plant-based meat successors. This is only the beginning of Heura’s journey to uproot the food system and resolve industry barriers and limitations.
