Time-travelling Milkman and partners NIZO Food Research and Duynie receive regional funding to develop sustainable plant-based food ingredients

Wageningen, The Netherlands, 25 November 2025 – Time-travelling Milkman (TTM), together with its consortium partners NIZO Food Research and Duynie, have received regional EFRO Oost funding to accelerate the development of sustainable and circular plant-based ingredients derived from sunflower seeds. The project aims to enable a new generation of versatile, clean-label, and climate-friendly food applications. 

Sustainable innovation from sunflower seeds 

The consortium will focus on producing and validating three innovative sunflower-based ingredients: OleoCream, OleoPowder, and SunPulp. These ingredients can be applied across multiple categories: 

·         OleoCream adds creaminess to plant-based dairy alternatives. 

·         OleoPowder functions as a natural texturizer in food formulations. 

·         SunPulp provides emulsifying proteins for plant-based meat products. 

Together, these innovations will make plant-based foods more appealing in taste, texture and nutrition, while reducing environmental impact. 

Complementary expertise within the consortium 

Each partner contributes specific expertise: 

·         Time-travelling Milkman (TTM) develops and validates the technology to extract oleosomes from sunflower seeds, forming the foundation of the new ingredients. 

·         NIZO Food Research optimizes production processes, validates biopurification technology to improve flavor, and conducts sensory analysis to ensure consumer acceptance. 

·         Duynie focuses on valorising side-streams, further ingredient processing for food, feed and biogas applications.

Towards scale and circularity 

The ultimate goal is to scale the technology to further industrial readiness, with a design for a capacity of 10,000 tons per year of OleoCream. The project integrates circular principles, ensuring that all parts of the sunflower seed are valorized, while minimizing waste, water use, and carbon emissions. 

Impact 

The project will have ecological, economic, and social impact: 

·         Ecological: solvent-free production, waste reduction, water savings, and lower CO₂ emissions. 

·         Economic: greater efficiency and scalability, making sustainable plant-based alternatives more affordable. 

·         Social: enabling healthier food choices and supporting sustainable business models in agriculture. 

About the funding 

This initiative is co-financed by the European Union and supported by EFRO Oost, which stimulates innovation and strengthens regional economic growth in the eastern Netherlands.  

About the consortium partners 

Time-traveling Milkman
Time-travelling Milkman develops functional, sustainable ingredients for the plant-based food industry. Originally a spin-off from Wageningen University, with a team having combined 40+ years of experience and knowledge in oleosome-based technologies. In the 5 years of their existence they have successfully raised 3 investment rounds with a total of 4M€ and scaled from lab-scale to commercially available volumes. With their impactful technology and ingredients, they are poised to play a pivotal role in redesigning and repositioning indulgent plant-based and hybrid products.  

"We are proud to collaborate with NIZO and Duynie on this groundbreaking project. By combining science, technology, and circular economy principles, we are one step closer to making sustainable plant-based foods the new standard".
Saskia Tersteeg, R&D Manager

More information: www.timetravellingmilkman.com 
Contact: Saskia Tersteeg, R&D Manager, saskia@timetravellingmilkman.com 

NIZO Food Research
NIZO is an internationally renowned contract research company with more than 75 years of experience in food and health innovation, based in Ede. With a team of over 100 experts, Europe’s largest independent food pilot plant, and the integrated strength of science and technology, NIZO helps companies – from startups to multinationals – innovate and scale food products more successfully, quickly, sustainably, and efficiently. 

“We are excited to embark on this journey together with TTM and Duynie, joining forces to create innovative food ingredients that will shape the future of nutrition.” — Steven Cornet, Project Manager Protein Technology

More information: www.nizo.com 
Contact: Celine Brattinga, Marketing & Communications Manager, celine.brattinga@nizo.com 

Duynie 

Duynie is the European market leader in the valorisation of co-products coming from the food, beverage, and biofuel industries. Founded in 1968, Duynie has grown to an international company with 500 employees working on a mission to create new value from co-products. By doing this, Duynie helps the world in the transition towards circularity by making optimal use of resources and reducing environmental impact. Duynie is headquartered in the Netherlands and operates in more than 20 European countries. It serves customers active in feed, (pet) food, technical and energy markets. 

 

“In this project, Duynie is committed to unlocking the full potential of TTM co-products by valorising them into food, feed, and biogas applications. We will apply innovative technologies on co-products of TTM to elevate food applications to a new level, while leveraging our strong expertise in feed and biogas markets. This collaboration project with NIZO brings scientific excellence together with the TTM’s innovative process and product scale-up, driving sustainable solutions for the future”.

 

Marcel Lommers, Manager R&D

More information: https://www.duynie.com/en/co-product-partners/project-revoleotion/

Contact Marcel Lommers, Manager R&D, m.lommers@duynie.com