A new contract manufacturing facility for plant-based protein will be opened near Tuas, which will allow different companies to use specialised equipment to scale up production of their plant-based proteins without purchasing their own machines.
This 11,000 sq.ft plant is the result of a joint-venture (JV) between German agri-food multinational, Cremer with Asia Sustainable Foods (ASF) Platform, a company owned by government-linked Temasek. It will have the capacity to produce 1,300 tonnes of plant protein per year which is equivalent to protein from 4.3 million chicken breast. According to ASF CEO, Mathys Boeren, up to 77% of the plant’s capacity has already been contracted out to a client and this will start production as early as 1 August.
The aim of ASF is in line with Singapore government’s 30 by 30 plan, that is, to accelerate domestic food production via commercialisation of sustainable food products. With strong support, agri-tech firms can accelerate their product developments and bring them faster to the market.
Damian Krueger, General Manager, Sustainable Nutrition at Cremer, said the plant has specialised manufacturing machine including a high-moisture extruder and it is able to process plant protein from various sources and mould them into meatballs, burgers, nuggets and patties amongst others.
The Singapore government hopes to strengthen the country’s agri-food ecosystem with this investment and create a more sustainable future for the nation in the long term.
