Research and development for the food sector

The Center of Food and Fermentation Technologies (TFTAK) was founded in 2004 as a non-profit with support from Enterprise Estonia, a state body, but in 2012 became a privately held company owned jointly by Tallinn University of Technology and four private companies.

TFTAK has two main areas of focus—biotechnology for the study of bacteria, yeast and fungi; and food for human consumption. Within the latter area of focus there have also been projects related to fish including one to study the feasibility of establishing a fish feed plant in Estonia.

Contracts with industry are the main source of revenue

In the food side of the business TFTAK does research and development on, for example, creating plant-based alternatives to meat and fish. The company currently has a team participating in an American competition (XPRIZE) to create a product that mimics fish. The team has been successful having reached the semi-finals in competition against big laboratories from private industry and other institutions. TFTAK has about 100 employees of whom 80 are scientists who are organised typically into teams of 6-10 people. There are also some 25 Ph.D students who do their research at TFTAK but earn their degrees from the university. TFTAK also does some core scientific research which brings in some revenue from the state, but the bulk of the income comes from projects funded by the private sector or from research grants. Martti Tamm is the chief technology officer whose responsibility is to keep the laboratory running. He is also involved in projects to find ways of upscaling the processes developed in the organisation.

Estonia’s three fishing producer organisation joined forces a few years ago to establish a fishmeal production factory in Paldiski near Tallinn. Estonian Fish Meal and Oil, the company behind the fishmeal factory, is looking at ways to valorise the production and commissioned the feasibility study. According to Mr Tamm the fishmeal factory has been successful with sales of fishmeal to customers in different parts of the world and now sees advantages in moving up the value chain. TFTAK has worked with the fishmeal factory on developing recipes for petfood and pet treats based on fishmeal. Mr Tamm has also worked on a project to treat the wastewater released by the fishmeal factory. It was a very specific challenge that the factory faced and TFTAK worked on the filtering technologies used to clean the wastewater. This involved optimising processes to separate and concentrate materials in the wastewater and to find out how to introduce filtration because the equipment is expensive and the unit price for fishmeal is quite low. Price is a critical parameter as—even if the technology works well—if the acquisition price or the running costs are too high it cannot be deployed.

Recovering environmentally damaging elements from wastewater

In the wastewater treatment project researchers from TFTAK analysed the wastewater and looked at ways of concentrating and recovering useful or harmful compounds, for example nitrogen and phosphorus. These can be used as fertiliser and can save on running the cleaning devices. If done properly the wastewater may not even have to run through mud baths but can be disposed off directly through the drainage system. But for now it is cheaper to use the mud baths than to use the filtration technology. Another project involved exploiting an invasive fish species, the round goby ( Neogobius melanostomus ), that has colonised the waters of the Baltic. Fishers were reluctant to catch the fish as there was no local market for it, so researchers at TFTAK developed ways of processing the fish into attractive products. Partly due to their efforts the fish has become popular among Estonians and now the issue is more that catches of the fish have declined so there is not enough to satisfy the market.

No categorical recommendations from fish feed plant feasibility study

The fish feed project will be a link in Estonian ambitions to increase annual aquaculture production from 1,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes by 2025. Most of this volume will be generated from marine aquaculture. Covid in particular showed how international transport could be suddenly blocked and highlighted the need for greater selfreliance. Although there are fish feed plants in Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands which export to countries in northern Europe, there was a need to study the possibility of establishing one in Estonia too. The study looked at feed for portion sized trout grown in freshwater and large trout grown in the sea as well as for sturgeon grown in intensive farming systems. Among the preliminary conclusions was that taking over the physical assets of a plant in Finland may create an economically viable solution as it would produce volumes large enough to also supply the Finnish market. Another scenario where a factory with lower capacity was established was not economically feasible. The report also referred to the additional needs of an independent feed company in terms of research and development, sales teams, and quality control facilities. It would also have to contend with long established feed mills in the wider region that already export their products to markets that the Estonian factory would target. The full report (in English) is publicly available at eng_1_Pre-design_ phase_I_Feasibility_Study_Aquafeed_Mill_Estonia_Final_Report. pdf (kalateave.ee).

Apart from the highly knowledgeable people working at TFTAK, the institution boasts a pilot facility that reproduces on a smaller scale all the technologies used by the food industry, so processes and products can be tested and then scaled up if necessary. This makes it attractive for companies (startups or others) who may want to test ideas but lack the facilities to do it. Companies are also interested in the institution’s ability to cultivate things (bacteria, fungi, yeast) as well as its in-house analytical capabilities—chemical, physical, sensory, and DNA studies. Within the area of food efforts are shifting away from meat and fish towards alternatives such as fungi, plantbased products, and even insects. This direction is driven by market developments. Plant-based milks, for example, now account for 16 of retail milk sales in value in the US, according to the Good Food Institute. Companies are getting more interested in these alternative sources of food and TFTAK is adapting in response. Plant-based products do not taste as much as traditional products and so some development work is needed to change this. The plant-based fish that was the entry for the XPRIZE had to reproduce the texture of fish which was quite a challenge as it is so much softer than meat yet has a distinct texture. Matching the taste of fish was not as difficult but people who eat fish regularly need to be deceived into thinking they are eating fish. Mr Tamm suggests that future generations, who are more used to eating plant-based products, will be slower to compare plant-based fish with the original and quicker to accept it even if it is not a perfect reproduction.

Papers and publications have led to a rising share of foreign contracts

The center serves not only Estonian companies, but foreign ones as well, which are responsible for over a third of the turnover and rising. We cannot grow further in Estonia, says Mr Tamm, so we have to sell our services outside. Papers by the center’s scientists in reputed journals and presentations at international conferences have drawn the attention of food companies to the existence of this institution, the research it carries out, and the services it offers. Participating in events like the XPRIZE also bring publicity to the center and its staff. To formalise its promotion efforts the center has recently hired its first sales and communication staff member, but scientific papers and presentations will remain an important part of its outreach strategy.

Center of Food and Fermentation Technologies

Mäealuse 2/4

12618 Tallinn, Estonia info@tftak.eu tftak.eu

Head of Engineering: Martti Tamm

Divisions:

– Bioprocess optimisation including cultivation technology and cultivation equipment for bacteria, fungi, and yeasts;

– Food research including functional foods, plant-based meat, plant-based dairy, plant proteins;

– Analytics including chemical, physical, sensory, metagenomics.

Employees: 100

Ph.D students: 25

Partners: 50