Raisio and the Nordic Umami Company to partner

Press Release, May 20, 2022

Raisio and the Nordic Umami Company have agreed on a partnership to explore opportunities for upcycling Raisio’s plant-based side streams to develop natural umami. The partnership supports Raisio’s corporate responsibility program, as one of its’ aim is to minimize food and production waste and better utilize by-products.

The Nordic Umami Company develops sustainable flavor innovations from food industry by-products. The company focuses on umami, the ’meaty’ delicious flavor that is naturally missing from plant-based proteins. In a process based on nature enhancing nature, the Nordic Umami Company has developed food technology that can extract this umami from plant-based ingredients. The technology has a patent pending.

In co-operation with Raisio, the Nordic Umami Company is now exploring and researching possibilities to use its technology to create value from Raisio’s production side streams. The goal is to return the upcycled product to Raisio’s production.

“Nordic Umami Company aims to accelerate the development of a sustainable food system. The partnership with Raisio enables us to further develop our umami technology and helps us to scale our production to an industrial level,” says Tytti-Lotta Ojala, Chief Design Officer at the Nordic Umami Company.

Raisio develops a more sustainable food culture too

According to research, as much as 14% of edible food is lost in the value chain before retail.

“We share mutual goals with the Nordic Umami Company. We also want to build a sustainable food system and the partnership holds a lot of potential for both parties,” says Raisio Chief Business Officer, Annika Boström-Kumlin.

The partnership project widely utilizes side streams from Raisio’s production. The primary target is to upcycle these plant-based by-products into new food ingredients. The secondary goal is to find opportunities to use the created umami in Raisio’s products.

“The innovation by the Nordic Umami Company is a welcome addition for naturally enhancing umami,” says Boström-Kumlin.

Raisio and the Nordic Umami Company have agreed to partner until the end of the year 2022, with the option of continuing for longer.

More information:

Nordic Umami Company, Chief Design Officer, Tytti-Lotta Ojala, tel. +358 50 5148 222
Raisio, Chief Business Officer, Annika Boström-Kumlin, tel. +358 40 507 1989

NORDIC UMAMI COMPANY OY
The Nordic Umami Company is a startup founded in January 2021 by Outi Mäkinen, Reetta Kivelä and Tytti-Lotta Ojala. Our goal is to build a more sustainable food system. Led by CEO Eetu Viuhkonen, we develop fermentation-based technology that extracts natural umami flavor from plant-based ingredients. Our sustainability vision is achieved by making vegetarian food more delicious and by using circular ingredients in our production. We use industry by-products to produce umami in our pilot factory in Finland. Our first product, meatless bouillon has been launched to food service. The company closed a pre-seed funding round in July 2021 and has just kicked of the seed funding round.  www.nordicumami.fi

RAISIO PLC
Raisio’s purpose is to make food which is good for Health, Heart and Earth. Our growth drivers and focus areas are Benecol® and plant stanol ester solutions, plant based foods, branded oat products for consumers and oat as raw material for industry. Our strong brands include for example, Benecol®, Beanit®, Elovena®, Sunnuntai®, Torino® and Benella®. In our products the focus is on well-being, health, good taste and responsibility. Raisio's values − courage, fairness and drive − guide us towards our targets. Raisio’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. In 2021, the Group’s net sales totaled EUR 246 million and comparable EBIT was EUR 22 million. Raisio employs about 400 people. www.raisio.com