US-based start-up Savor has commercially launched its animal- and plant-free butter made from carbon. Through its proprietary technology, the company “bypasses” the lengthy conventional agricultural cycle and creates real fats in a process that involves significantly less land, water, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

“The fats we produce are chemically identical to those you consume daily, meaning they provide the same nutritional fuel for your body,” the company’s CEO Kathleen Alexander tells Food Ingredients First.

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, meat and dairy agriculture account for around 14.5% of global GHG emissions. Academic research has established that phasing out animal agriculture over the next 12 years would have the same impact as a 68% reduction of CO2 emissions through the year 2100.

Amid these challenges and opportunities, Savor says its technology can potentially replac palm oil and other widely used edible fats with a “very low-carbon equivalent” in the next decade.

Turning carbon into butter

The company’s technology begins with what Alexander calls the “most fundamental” building blocks of life — carbon gases like carbon dioxide and methane.

“Through a carefully controlled process involving heat and pressure, we directly transform these simple carbon gases into carbon chains. These chains are then converted into fatty acids — the essential building blocks of fats and oils — and ultimately into complete fat molecules.”

The composition is what makes Savor’s fats distinctive, according to Alexander.

“We produce higher concentrations of medium-chain and odd-chain fatty acids than most agricultural fats. These fatty acid profiles have been associated with positive health outcomes, and we are currently conducting nutritional studies to better understand their potential benefits.”

“We can match the performance characteristics of virtually any type of fat — from animal fats and dairy fats to vegetable oils, tropical fats, and even specialty oils used in cosmetics — all using the same core technology.”

The company aims to directly substitute fats and oils in typical applications and recipes, whether customized to meet a specific purpose or used as an ingredient in more complex products like butter.

“Our initial butter formulation has properties that are amazingly close to those of dairy butter. It can ‘croissant’ and be a 1:1 replacement in most baking applications, plus many other popular culinary uses for butter,” notes Alexander.

What the science says

When asked whether environmental data supports the product’s impact claims, Alexander draws attention to a peer-reviewed paper she wrote in 2023 before Savor was established, titled “Food without agriculture,” with authors from US, Canada, and China universities.

The study is published in Nature Sustainability and delves into how biological and chemical processes can create dietary fats with a dramatically lower carbon footprint (<0.8 g CO2e/kcal) at a commercial scale. The research notes that this is much less than the >1.5 gCO2e/kcal currently emitted to produce palm oil in Brazil or Indonesia.

“We are currently working with a third party to complete a life-cycle assessment (LCA) for our first commercial facility, which is in the design phase. As we continue to scale production capacity at our pilot plant, we may perform a formal LCA there as well, but our current efforts are focused on LCA for commercial production,” shares Alexander.

Driving adoption

While the alternative food space has proliferated with the rise of techniques like precision fermentation, cellular agriculture, and molecular farming, consumer acceptance is crucial to drive adoption.

For Savor, Alexander says the journey has just begun, but the start-up plans for consumers to taste foods made with agriculture-free butter in real-world settings. She tells us that a series of activations are in the pipeline this year in partnership with restaurants and bakeries.

“Our philosophy is simple: tasting is believing.”

“Rather than relying solely on technical explanations, we want to create memorable food experiences that naturally spark curiosity about our process. This approach will form the foundation of our consumer education efforts. Our immediate focus is ensuring consumers have the chance to discover the quality and performance of our products through these initial culinary partnerships.”

The start-up is now eyeing collaborations with CPG players to tap different use cases of its customizable fats and oils.

“We are negotiating joint development agreements with some of these partners, who have been particularly impressed by the versatility and tunability of fatty acid profiles that our platform can produce — capabilities that extend beyond the company’s initial dairy-fat mimicking formulation,” Alexander concludes.