Soufflet Malt, the world’s number one maltster, and Eat The Truth, a foodtech platform from The Mediterranean Food Lab, are pleased to announce the signing of a strategic partnership combining their expertise in fermentation, culinary innovation, and production scale-up. Eat the Truth specialises in the creation of food solutions derived from solid-state fermentation. The partnership is initially focused on solutions for cocoa and non-alcoholic beverages.
As the food and beverage industry faces increasing reformulation and ingredient replacement challenges, this partnership will offer natural solutions that combine rich flavor profiles, cost competitiveness, and scalability. In the future, the two partners plan to expand this approach to other food and beverage applications, exploring new flavor profiles and uses for malt.
Cocoa and non-alcoholic beverages: the first areas of application
Consumer expectations are changing: 64% of French people say they have decided not to buy a food product because it contained additives, and 60% feel they do not have enough information about what products contain1. At the same time, manufacturers are facing high price volatility in certain strategic raw materials, starting with cocoa, the price for which tripled between January 2024 and January 2025, before falling sharply in March 2026.
Consumption habits are also shifting in the beverage sector: 71% of Europeans report reducing their alcohol consumption, while one-quarter of 25 to 35-year-olds have stopped buying alcohol altogether2. Given this, the combination of malt and solid-state fermentation makes it possible to use food-grade ingredients to develop flavor profiles tailored to a variety of applications.
In addition to replacing raw materials that are in short supply, this innovative and natural solution makes it possible to create notes of roasted flavors, cocoa, coffee, umami or kokumi. It also opens new possibilities in chocolate confectionery, beverages and non-alcoholic alternatives, as well as in baked goods and sauces, with a significant reduction in running costs.
“This partnership aligns with our MALTiply 2030 strategy to accelerate our expansion into adjacent markets and develop new, high-value-added solutions for the food and beverage industry. By unleashing the flavor of malt as a natural, versatile and sustainable ingredient, we rise to the challenge of manufacturers seeking simpler ingredients, authenticity and richer taste experiences. This partnership combines our expertise in fermentation with Eat The Truth’s approach to flavor creation using food ingredients. Together, we will accelerate the development of new solutions for our customers and bring them to market at scale.” Laurent Debande, Chief Growth and Innovation Officer at Soufflet Malt
“This partnership sets a new standard for food ingredients: delicious, honest, innovative solutions designed from the outset for industrial-scale production. By combining our
fermentation expertise with that of Soufflet Malt, we’re helping manufacturers go beyond conventional flavor solutions to create richer, more innovative products using real food ingredients. Today, we’re the only ones capable of offering our partners better taste, clean labelling, and a more attractive rate.” Yair Yosefi, Co-founder and CEO of Eat The Truth
Combining Flavor Expertise and Industrial Scale
Soufflet Malt brings its expertise in malting and fermentation, as well as its industrial scale, with 35 malthouses in 20 countries and an annual production capacity of 3.6 million tons.
Eat The Truth brings its unique expertise, ranging from solid-state fermentation to flavor creation, culinary R&D, and the development of ready-to-use solutions for manufacturers. Founded by chefs and supported by a network of more than 300 partners across Europe, its proprietary approach enables the production of rich and complex flavor profiles from solid state fermented food ingredients, without the use of artificial flavor or additives.
Together, the two partners will offer manufacturers a platform covering flavor creation, sensory validation, prototyping and industrialization. The goal is to rapidly transform new flavor profiles into scalable solutions adapted for large-scale production.
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