Ida Svensson works to ensure that the food of the future comes from Lund

Tetra Pak was founded in Lund in 1951 and has made itself known as a manufacturer of equipment and materials for packaging in the food industry. But what many do not know is that Tetra Pak offers expertise in food preparation, that is, in how to cook delicious food on an industrial scale.

- We sell equipment for food production but also help customers use it and optimize it, says Ida Svensson. This also means that we are often involved in developing customers' recipes. For example, the plant-based beverage segment has grown strongly in recent years and a lot of beverages have been developed with us. And if you eat cheese or ice cream, there is over a 50% chance globally that it has passed our equipment.

For a few years now, Tetra Pak has been investing in the food of the future. The background to this is that the Earth's population is growing, while the arable area is likely to decrease. For this to work together, food needs to be produced in new ways. Tetra Pak wants to be an important player in getting enough food.

- We work for safe and accessible food for all while preserving the good — food, people and the planet. Then we have to do it differently. It's about supplementing what we have today with new ways to get more food. There are new technologies that are ten times more efficient at producing protein than today's methods.

Tetra Pak already has many technologies, but they need to be supplemented with more.

- Right now we are researching biomass fermentation and precision fermentation. To do these lines, you need a number of different steps — and we see that we already have most of the steps in our portfolio.

Both technologies use microorganisms, by precision fermentation you “program” the microorganism to produce, for example, fat or protein and with biomass fermentation you grow the microorganism you want in a bioreactor.

- We see that the plant-based segment is growing, continues Ida Svensson. We strongly believe in products with new ingredients from these new technologies and in hybrid products where, for example, we could replace 50% of the ground beef in a biomass product based on mushroom mycelium and still have the same taste and texture — but have a lower climate footprint. And through precision fermentation it is possible to create protein to enrich, for example, oat drink with. Today, microorganisms are fed in a bioreactor with sugar. In fact, in the future, it is highly realistic that we can feed them with carbon dioxide.

Approval of precision fermentation and biomass fermentation is moving faster in countries such as Singapore and the United States than in the EU.

- I know that the upcoming Danish Presidency of the European Union will have this at the top of its agenda. Both business and academia need to be helped to speed this up. But clearly it will still be done under the rules that make the new food as safe as today's for consumers.

In Lund, Tetra Pak and LTH booted Biotech Heights which is a center for developing bioprocess technologies.

- It's really an opportunity to help put this region on the map. We see that there is a possibility that Lund could become the Silicon Valley of the food world. 40% of Sweden's food production is located in Southern Sweden, there are four universities nearby (including the Danish ones) and we have many larger companies. If, in addition, you add ACES and MAX IV With the opportunity to work in world-leading research environments, we have great opportunities and we must exploit that.

When creating the food of the future, taste and texture are of the highest priority.

- Today it is a trend that many people want to eat more vegetarian and or cut down on meat. But if it doesn't taste as good, it's hard to convince people of the new food. In the future, it is expected that there will be many new products that will attract a wider population. For example, we are looking for the really good vegan fresh cheese.

What are you longing to taste?

- I hope for more meat analogues that are really good. I have three children, and it's a challenge to convince children of certain dishes. We need to be able to offer more vegetarian food that is attractive to the whole family.

What do you think we will eat in the future?

- I think we eat the same foods as today but also new products that we do not know about yet, in much the same way that we did not eat tacos and sushi in my childhood. I do not think that we will fly here a fillet of beef from Brazil in the future, but more so that you eat better products, such as fine locally produced meat, but less often. And I think we still eat and drink dairy products but there are even more plant-based products.

Ida Svensson has worked at Tetra Pak since 2005. Almost three years ago, the strategic initiative with the food of the future was started and Ida became a change leader to run the area, both internally and externally.

- This is an interesting area where it happens a lot globally — investment in biotechnology is actually also on the White House website, says Ida Svensson. This is the most fun I've worked on, because it's something I'm passionate about and where I can also contribute to something good!

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Fact box

Year 1951 AB Tetra Pak is founded in Lund by Ruben Rausing and the company introduced the first, classic tetrahedral and paper-based carton packaging for milk.

Tetra Pak now has three branches: packaging, service and process. The process page deals with the production of new foods and is divided into eight categories: dairy, beverages (e.g. juices), ready meals (e.g. soups), cheese, ice cream, (e.g. milk and spices), new food and plant-based.

On the food side, Tetra Pak can offer complete solutions, but can also create only the process or the packaging alone. Tetra Pak has 11 different test centres with experts around the world, including in Aarhus, Denmark, for ice cream and for tea in Singapore.

Tetra Pak makes Recurring a report to identify consumer trends. It is based on interviews with consumers and experts from around the world. It provides insight into the latest findings, trends and consumer opinions on the latest food innovations.

Genome Moving food forward Tetra Pak has identified 4 areas where they focus on helping to make the food side more safe, sustainable and resilient. These four are a more sustainable dairy industry, innovations for new foods, providing nutritious food through sustainable packaging and reducing food waste.