The soaring cost of raw materials and increasing sustainability concerns are prompting chocolate and confectionery companies to invest heavily in alternative ingredients for their products.
Mondelez International, the maker of Oreo, recently participated in a $4.5 million seed funding round for Celleste Bio, a cell-based cocoa startup. British food ingredients company Tate & Lyle also announced a partnership with BioHarvest Sciences to develop sweeteners from synthetic, plant-derived molecules.
These investments come as cocoa futures in New York surge past $10,000 per tonne, continuing a sharp rise that started a year ago. In April, prices for cocoa, the essential ingredient in chocolate, peaked above $12,000 per tonne, nearly triple the price in January.
The price hike is driven by a combination of adverse weather conditions and diseases in West Africa, which produces more than two-thirds of the world’s cocoa. Climate change has exacerbated these issues, further straining global cocoa supplies.
“If we don’t change how we source cocoa, we won’t have chocolate in two decades,” warned Michal Beressi Golomb, CEO of Celleste Bio. She added that cell-cultured cocoa could provide a solution to the industry’s dependence on traditional farming, which is vulnerable to climate fluctuations and market volatility.
Golomb’s remarks highlight the growing concern among chocolate manufacturers about securing a sustainable, consistent supply of quality cocoa. “Everybody wants to be part of the party,” she said, noting the surge in interest from both investors and industry players.
Celleste Bio, founded in 2022, is one of several startups leveraging cell-culture technology to bypass traditional farming methods. These innovations not only promise to stabilize supply chains but could also address regulatory challenges. For example, the European Union’s new deforestation regulation requires proof that commodities like cocoa are not sourced from deforested land, adding additional pressure to cocoa supply chains.
Other companies are exploring different paths to ensure sustainability. Finnish confectioner Fazer, for example, launched a limited-edition cocoa-free “chocolate” bar made from malted rye and coconut oil. The Helsinki-based company has also partnered with Finland’s state-owned research center, VTT, to develop cell-based cocoa pods.
“Nearly four years ago, research showed us that climate change would impact cocoa availability and prices,” said Annika Porr from Fazer Confectionery’s Forward Lab. “This year, it has become a reality.”
Meanwhile, agricultural giant Cargill has partnered with Voyage Foods, a startup that produces sustainable alternatives to traditional chocolate and nut spreads. Voyage Foods creates its products using grape seeds, sunflower protein flour, sugar, fat, and natural flavors, without the use of cocoa, peanuts, or hazelnuts.
Adam Maxwell, CEO of Voyage Foods, explained that cocoa prices were not widely discussed when the company first started, but the surge in prices has made the need for such innovations more apparent. “Now, it’s a lot easier to see why this is necessary,” he said. Consumers are increasingly seeking sustainable indulgence options that are both delicious and free from allergens like nuts and dairy.
While the price of sugar has remained stable—partly due to its exclusion from EU deforestation regulations—the food industry is still under pressure to reduce its environmental impact and meet growing consumer demand for healthier alternatives.
Tate & Lyle, historically a sugar producer, is working with BioHarvest Sciences to create synthetic sweeteners derived from plant cells. BioHarvest has invested $100 million over the past 17 years to perfect this technology, which magnifies the sweetness of plant compounds while suppressing their bitter notes.
Abigail Storms, senior vice president at Tate & Lyle, emphasized that customers are looking for cost-effective, naturally sourced solutions. “It’s all about democratising those benefits,” she said, noting that the company aims to ensure that its products are competitively priced.
However, producing lab-grown ingredients is not without its challenges. Celleste Bio, for example, aims to bring the cost of cell-cultured cocoa to parity with pre-2024 cocoa prices—around $7,000 per tonne for cocoa butter and $3,000 for cocoa powder—by 2027.
Tate & Lyle faces similar cost considerations, aiming to ensure that its synthetic sweeteners are priced similarly to traditional sugar-based alternatives.
But breaking away from traditional commodity markets involves not only overcoming high production costs but also navigating regulatory hurdles. For instance, Fazer’s cocoa-free bar cannot be labeled as “chocolate” under EU regulations, which reserve that term for products containing cocoa. Instead, the product is labeled as a “candy tablet.”
Cell-based cocoa also faces a challenging regulatory landscape, with “novel food” approval likely to be a more complex process in the EU compared to the U.S.
The ultimate test for these innovations may be consumer acceptance. Fazer’s early research suggests that transparency about how cell-based cocoa is made could help sway public opinion. However, the taste and texture must meet consumer expectations. “Consumers really expect it to taste and feel similar to traditional cocoa,” said Porr. “There is still work to be done.”
As chocolate and confectionery companies push forward with lab-grown and alternative cocoa solutions, the future of the industry may lie in these groundbreaking approaches to sourcing ingredients. But with regulatory, production, and consumer challenges still to overcome, the path to mass adoption is far from certain.
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