Agronomics (AIM:ANIC) said on Friday that its portfolio company Solar Foods has received a positive scientific opinion from the European Food Safety Authority for Solein, its protein ingredient produced from carbon dioxide and electricity through gas fermentation, moving the product to the final stage of EU approval.
Agronomics is a London-listed investment company that backs early-stage agtech and alternative protein businesses, providing capital and operational support across its portfolio.
EFSA concluded that Solein is safe to consume under its proposed conditions of use, and Solar Foods says it is the first company to receive a positive EFSA opinion for a novel food ingredient made through gas fermentation.
The opinion follows an assessment of the application Solar Foods submitted on 29 October 2021.
The European Commission will now draft an implementing act for a vote by EU Member State representatives, a process Solar Foods expects to take approximately seven to nine months, revising its previous expectation of approval during 2026.
Once authorised, Solein could be commercialised across the EU under the approved conditions without separate Member State authorisations.
Solar Foods expects the opinion to push offtake negotiations toward binding agreements, which, alongside completed financing, are prerequisites for a final investment decision on Factory 02, its first industrial-scale Solein facility.
The company estimates the 2030 addressable market for protein ingredients in Health, Performance and Functional Foods at approximately €7 billion in the EU and €11 billion in the United States.
Jim Mellon, Executive Chairman of Agronomics, said producing protein from carbon dioxide and electricity "offers a potential alternative to agricultural production and its exposure to land, weather and commodity markets," adding that the opinion "removes a key regulatory uncertainty for Solar Foods and advances its path to the European market, alongside its existing routes to market in Singapore and the United States."
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Agronomics first invested in Solar Foods in September 2020 and has committed £5.2 million to date, with the holding carried at approximately £6.4 million, around 4.6% of Agronomics' net asset value of £139.5 million as at 30 September.
Solein already holds novel food approval in Singapore, granted in September 2022, and an independent conclusion of GRAS status in the United States reached in 2024, with a GRAS notification now under review by the US Food and Drug Administration.
