NoPalm Ingredients is a Dutch startup based in Wageningen that produces oils and fats by fermenting by-products from the food industry, offering a sustainable, local and scalable alternative to palm oil. The company, co-funded by the European Innovation Council, has been selected as one of four finalists for the Food Planet Prize 2026, a major international award dedicated to sustainable food systems.
The problem NoPalm Ingredients aims to address is structural: palm oil is found in more than 50 per cent of mass-market packaged products, ranging from food and cosmetics to animal feed and powdered milk, because it is versatile, stable, cost-effective and unrivalled in terms of yield per hectare. Global demand is therefore growing by 4 per cent a year, but meeting this demand through plantation expansion would require deforestation equivalent to an area 1.5 times the size of Ireland by 2030. Less than 20 per cent of global supplies are currently certified as sustainable.
NoPalm Ingredients’ solution is to decouple the production of oils and fats from land use. A non-GM oil-producing yeast strain is grown in industrial fermenters fed with food industry waste, such as potato peelings and vegetable scraps. The yeast converts this waste into lipids that are functionally equivalent to palm oil, shea butter or cocoa butter.
The result is marketed under the REVÓLEO brand, whose range includes REVÓLEO Soft, a semi-solid fat for food applications, and REVÓLEO Silk, a soft butter for cosmetics and personal care. The products are designed as direct, drop-in substitutes that do not require manufacturers to reformulate their products. The company is building a global network of decentralised plants, located directly at manufacturers’ sites and close to raw material sources, to reduce dependence on complex global supply chains while ensuring traceability and resilience.
Name:
NoPalm Ingredients
Website:
Sector:
Food biotechnology
Plus:
Drastically reduced environmental impact and production for the food and cosmetics sectors
Features:
Producing oils and fats that are functionally equivalent to palm oil through the fermentation of food waste
Cover: phot by NoPalm Ingredients