Barry Callebaut links with Zurich University for cocoa cell culture chocolate venture

A significant move has been unveiled by Barry Callebaut, which has formed a strategic partnership with Zurich University exploring the fast-rising market for cocoa cell culture developed for chocolate ranges, reports Neill Barston.

According to the business, which has its financial headquarters in Switzerland and core production in Belgium, the industry link-up is part of its broader plans for innovation within the confectionery sector.

Notably, the plans come amid major turbulence within mainstream cocoa production, which has seen prices for spiral to a comparative high of around $12,000 a tonne earlier this year, and further supply chain uncertainty in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

While prices have dipped below the $10,000 mark, as Barry Callebaut’s CEO Pete Feld noted this past week that there remained “unprecedented market volatility,” which has seen the company’s third quarter performance negatively impacted.  Results were down 6.2% for the period in terms of chocolate volumes, with cocoa prices having increased by 43% year-on-year, with the industry also hit by equally significant rises in cocoa butter used extensively within the sector.

According to Barry Callebaut, the connection with Zurich University is anticipated to enable the development of new chocolate products with new flavours, as well as exploring potential for enhanced health benefits.

As Confectionery Production has previously reported, the industry has been affected by sizeable supply deficits due to a combination of climate change, crop disease and pressure on an ageing workforce that has continued to operate on below poverty-line wages for many years. 

In response to market headwinds, as previously reported, the past two years has seen the emergence of cocoa cell culture, with companies such as California Cultured (which presented at last year’s World Confectionery Conference in Brussels) based the US emerge as challengers to the established supply chain markets in being among the first to market with its own lab-developed cocoa supplies.

While such technical feats have attracted strong praise for their potential, which is being supported by major ingredients businesses, concerns have been expressed within cocoa growing nations as to the potential impact of the emergence of such disruptive businesses. 

However, Dries Roekaerts, President Customer Experience at Barry Callebaut, stressed that the business was not seeking to replace conventionally grown cocoa, but rather to augment supplies.

“This partnership reflects our proactive approach to building innovation capabilities that will shape the future of chocolate. We are not replacing cocoa from farms, but rather preparing for a future where we can offer consumers additional choices and ensure long-term supply security.”