Cargill partners with Voyage Foods to scale up cocoa-free chocolate

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Cargill partners with Voyage Foods to scale up cocoa-free chocolate

Melissa Bradshaw

12 April 2024

Innovation

Cargill partners with Voyage Foods to scale up cocoa-free chocolate

Cargill has announced a new commercial partnership with cocoa-free chocolate start-up Voyage Foods, aiming to meet global demand for sustainable confectionery. Voyage, based in California, US, uses plant-based ingredients to develop sustainable and dairy-free alternatives to popular products that face ‘uncertain futures’ due to their sourcing challenges – including chocolate. Alongside its alternatives to cocoa-based products, it also provides nut-free spreads made without common nut or dairy allergens, such as peanut and hazelnut, formulated to taste like their traditional counterparts thanks to the company’s proprietary technology. As part of the new partnership, Cargill will be the exclusive B2B distributor for Voyage Foods, expanding its traditional chocolate portfolio to include cocoa-free alternatives for the first time. These alternatives will be used in recipe formulation for categories such as bakery, ice cream and confectionery. Cargill said this will complement and diversify its portfolio to provide a broader range of solutions that are vegan, label-friendly and produced with no nut or dairy allergens. Inge Demeyere, managing director of bakery, ice cream and chocolate confectionery at Cargill, said: “Alternatives to cocoa-based products are a great accompaniment to the traditional chocolate solutions that Cargill offers its customers”.

“This partnership is just one of the many ways that we are future-proofing our portfolio and meeting consumer demands and market regulations when it comes to even more sustainable options.”

Adam Maxwell, CEO and founder of Voyage Foods, commented: “Voyage Foods has always been focused on solving human and environmental health challenges through food. The best way to accomplish this is by supplying the world's food brands and manufacturers with our impactful ingredients.” He added: “Partnering with Cargill, a leader in the food industry for over 100 years, is the perfect way to scale these solutions globally to offer food manufacturers the ability to integrate cocoa-free confectionery and spreads, produced with no nut or dairy allergens used in the recipe formulation, into their portfolios”. The range will be available in Europe and will follow shortly in other regions globally.