Cargill has announced a commercial partnership with Voyage Foods — a California-based food tech company that creates spreads and chocolates free from cocoa, nut, and dairy — to offer sustainable alternatives to popular sweet favorites.
With demand for sustainable global confectionery products expected to rise, and as the cocoa crisis continues to deepen, Cargill will be the exclusive B2B global distributor for Voyage Foods, expanding its existing chocolate offerings with a new range of sustainable chocolate alternatives for the first time.
The commercial partnership will also provide food manufacturers with allergen- and dairy-free nut flavor spreads for recipe formulation in the bakery, ice cream, and chocolate confectionery categories.
Inge Demeyere, Managing Director, Bakery, Ice Cream and Chocolate Confectionery Europe at Cargill, shared, “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.”
Sustainable free from options
Founded in early 2021 by Adam Maxwell and Kelsey Tenney, Voyage Foods has developed patented technology to create various innovative alternatives to popular sweets, including nut-free spreads (peanut and hazelnut flavors) and cocoa-free chocolate. It has also developed a bean-free coffee made from roasted chickpeas.
According to Cargill, Voyage Foods tech provides a “delightful” sensory experience to its cocoa-free alternatives. Regarding sustainability, the production boasts impressive benefits: a 67% decrease in carbon footprint, a 90% reduction in land-use impacts, and a staggering 95% decrease in water footprint compared to traditional chocolate.
In addition to the process, Voyage Foods products are made from natural and more sustainable ingredients, including sunflower seeds, grape seeds, chickpea flour, and rice protein.
Maxwell comments, “Voyage Foods has always been focused on solving human and environmental health challenges through food. Partnering with Cargill (…) 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.”
Voyage Foods’ products are available in the US through retail, food service, and business channels. Through the agreement, its cocoa-free confectionery range will initially become available in Europe, to later follow in other global regions.
