Clean Food Group secures £5.2m to scale fermentation facility

Clean Food Group (CFG), a pioneer in UK biotech, has secured a £4.5 million investment round led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian, bolstered by a £700,000 Innovate UK grant.

This capital injection is earmarked for the rapid scale-up of the company’s massive one million-litre fermentation facility in Knowsley, Liverpool, positioning it as a global powerhouse in the production of sustainable oils and fats.

CFG has developed a proprietary fermentation platform that utilises food waste as a feedstock to produce yeast-derived oils. Unlike traditional vegetable oils that require vast tracts of land, CFG’s products are manufactured in a controlled, industrial environment.

• Format: high-performance liquid oils and solid fats.
• Positioning: a direct, sustainable “drop-in” alternative to palm and tropical oils.
• Technical features: customisable functionality for food, cosmetics, and pet nutrition, delivering consistency that agricultural products often lack due to seasonal variations.

The investment comes at a time when the global sustainable food market is projected to reach US$524 billion by 2032. Manufacturers are currently caught between “climate volatility and trade disputes,” according to Jim Mellon, chairman of New Agrarian. CFG responds to this gap by providing a localised, low-impact manufacturing model that bypasses the environmental and ethical concerns associated with traditional oil supply chains.

While the technology was showcased at in-cosmetics Global in Paris, the primary target remains the food manufacturing and foodservice sectors. CFG is working closely with Döhler Group to integrate these fats into mainstream food systems.

• Commercial path: the funding will complete the Knowsley scale-up, moving the company from pilot batches to widespread commercial reality.
• Scale: with a one million-litre capacity, CFG can now offer the volumes required by multinational FMCG companies.

Tom Ellen, CFO of Clean Food Group, noted that the facility will be the “world’s largest” of its kind, while Rodrigo Hortega de Velasco of Döhler Ventures highlighted that the acquisition of the Knowsley site brings these innovative products “closer to widespread commercial reality.”

For food manufacturers and ingredient suppliers, this signals that fermentation-derived fats are a scalable solution. The transition to cleaner ingredient systems is accelerating. CFG’s ability to turn food waste into high-value oils at an industrial scale offers a blueprint for how the industry can build resilience against environmental shocks while meeting the tightening ESG requirements of the modern market.