Noblegen is raising the bar in food innovation

When it comes to eating well, ingredients make all the difference. Now more than ever, people are questioning the quality of the ingredients that go into what they eat. Noblegen Inc., a Peterborough-based advanced ingredients company, is taking these concerns seriously and is offering food and beverage companies sustainable, non-GMO (genetically modified), cost effective and easily customized ingredients to satisfy consumers’ needs.

Noblegen’s work, supported through FedDev Ontario’s Investing in Business Innovation Initiative, creates bioproducts, which are simple and clean ingredients that can be used in a variety of products, including beverages, food and nutritional supplements. What started out as an award-winning high school science fair project for Adam Noble, the young CEO and Founder of the company, has led to a viable technology that contributes to a cleaner and healthier planet.

“Noblegen has developed a proprietary technique to grow microorganisms that deliver high volumes of unique ingredients for the mass market,” says Andressa Lacerda, Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder of Noblegen Inc. “Our approach uses non-GMO organisms, it does not use harsh chemicals during processing and generates virtually zero waste.”

Noblegen’s methods are promoting food innovation, an important trend that is shaking up traditional practices. Today’s consumer is interested in supporting environmentally-conscious products and businesses and Noblegen’s approach to ingredient production is driving this. Noblegen has created a truly sustainable supply chain and southern Ontario is the ideal setting for this emerging technology.

“Southern Ontario brings a great combination of backgrounds that include agriculture, innovation and research while being a few hours to major city centres both in Ontario and the U.S.,” says Lacerda. “We have leveraged this unique location and Noblegen is now flourishing in the innovation sector.”

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In the four years since it was established, Noblegen is in discussion with five of the largest food and beverage companies in the world—an impressive feat for an emerging clean-tech food innovation company.

“The fact that we have been able to get this far with a team of 40 is simply amazing and speaks volumes about the kind of talent that exists and is attracted to our region,” says Lacerda.

Noblegen is becoming a major player in the food innovation industry while continuously making a positive impact on the surrounding community.

“We are able to attract talent to this region and hire locals that are directly employed by us,” says Lacerda. “Additionally, during the construction of our first commercial scale facility, 90 percent of the work was done by local trades.”

Sustainability in the food industry is as important as ever and the work of young entrepreneurs is making all the difference in creating a prosperous recipe for all involved.