Innovating Culinary Excellence: Koppert Cress Partners with the Food Systems Innovation Challenge

Anton the Kom University of Suriname

The two teams of Anton de Kom University of Suriname are team ‘EntoPro’ and ‘Miraculous Mycelia’. Team Entopro is working on addressing the high cost of animal feed by proposing a sustainable alternative: Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae feed. And team Miraculous Mycelia is working on a project in which they try to utilize organic waste from the rice industry for cultivation of edible and medicinal mushrooms.

This sustainable way of producing food is a goal that aligns with the aim of Koppert Cress.

Sustainability and Innovation

Whilst the team Miraculous Mycelia is working on the development of their sustainable mushroom production, Koppert Cress has also been developing a new product. Koppert Cress is producing Moai Caviar, an algae variety that is cultivated in tanks of salt water. This 'underwater vegetable' features light green stems with small beads attached, which burst in your mouth like caviar, hence the name. This is a perfect example of one of the aims of Koppert Cress to transform to a more plant based diet.

Koppert Cress’s innovation extends beyond new products. For example their research includes studying the health benefits of broccoli sprouts. They also focus on organic crop protection. In collaboration with the PATS team from the Technical University Delft, they are developing drones to combat moths in greenhouses, mechanical bats. This initiative again demonstrates Koppert Cress's interest in working with students and their believe that only together we can transform food systems. This excitement to collaborate with young innovative minds is one of the reasons Kopper Cress decided to become an impact partner of the Food Systems Innovation Challenge.

Are you curious about the other projects of Koppert Cress? You can find more stories about their projects here!

Grand Finals of the Food Systems Innovation Challenge
We are excited to see what the two teams of Anton de Kom university of Suriname will develop. On 30 September there will be the Grand Finals at Wageningen University during which all 18 teams will pitch their projects. The coming months teams EntoPro and Miraculous Mycelia will be busy developing their project, and thanks to seed funding from Koppert Cress, they will be able to implement their ideas!

Find out more about Koppert Cress on their website.

More information about the Food Systems Innovation Challenge can be found on the website or on our community page.