Europe's largest food upcycling plant is located in Appenzell

The Appenzell start-up Upgrain and the Locher AG brewery are sending out a strong signal for sustainable innovation in the food industry with the inauguration of Europe's largest food upcycling plant. After years of research and development, the two partners officially put the new spent grains processing plant into operation, which is capable of turning around 25,000 tons of spent grains into valuable raw materials every year.

Caption (from left to right): William Beiskjaer - COO Upgrain AG, Karl Locher - owner of Brauerei Locher AG, Helene Budliger Artieda - Director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, Vincent Vida - CEO Upgrain AG, Ruth Metzler-Arnold - President Switzerland Global Enterprise, Roland Dähler - Landammann Appenzell Innerrhoden. (Image: www.upgrain.ch / www.brauereilocher.ch)

"With the opening of our plant, we are taking a decisive step towards more sustainable food production. We are showing that economic success and ecological responsibility can go hand in hand," says Karl Locher, owner of the Locher brewery and member of the Board of Directors of Upgrain AG. For years, the Locher brewery has been working on various techniques and recipes to provide innovative impetus for food upcycling. Whether it's pizza, lasagne, muesli, tipples or meat substitutes: by processing by-products from the brewery, the spent grains, the waste of valuable resources is stopped and high-quality food that tastes good is produced at the same time. Food upcycling instead of food waste is the motto.

Brewer's grains become a new raw material for the food industry

The start-up Upgrain, founded in 2021, is now taking spent grains processing to a new dimension: with an unprecedented capacity to turn around 25,000 tons of spent grains into valuable raw materials every year, the plant in Appenzell, which has now officially gone into operation, is setting new international standards for sustainable innovations in the food industry. The Locher brewery is the first brewery in the world to utilize almost 100% of its resources through upcycling. The state-of-the-art process developed by Upgrain converts spent grains into valuable proteins, fiber and other high-quality ingredients that are subsequently used in the food industry.

The spent grains produced during brewing are divided into three fractions:

  • Upgrain Classic: A versatile blend with 27% protein and 47% fiber. Ideal as a flour substitute, it improves nutritional values without significantly altering taste or texture.
  • Upgrain Fiber: A dietary fiber powder with 70% fiber content. Excellent for improving the texture of baked goods and meat substitutes.
  • Upgrain Protein: A barley protein powder with 45% protein content, rich in vitamins and minerals. Perfect for protein-rich snacks and drinks.

This innovative upcycling process reduces CO₂ emissions, saves considerable amounts of water and conserves arable land that would otherwise be used to grow wheat, soy or peas. At the Locher brewery alone, over 5,500 tons of CO₂ are saved every year and resource consumption is reduced at the same time.

Vincent Vida, CEO of Upgrain AG, says: "We will establish spent grains as a valuable resource in food production worldwide and thus make a positive contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions and conserving our natural resources. Due to the industrial scalability of our upcycling technology, our plant can be used immediately and anywhere in the world."

Source: www.upgrain.ch / www.brauereilocher.ch

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