Feed production represents up to 80% of the climate impact of Swedish egg production, largely due to imported soy. A new initiative led by Axfoundation and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences is testing mycoprotein as a circular alternative.
The Feed of the Future for Fish, Pigs, Poultry and Laying Hens project is led by Axfoundation in collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Its goal is to reduce the environmental impact of feed while maintaining high animal performance and food quality. In this recent initiative, the group tested a soy-free hen feed with a mycoprotein produced from food industry side streams.
Replacing soy with circular protein
Conventional poultry feed relies mostly on imported soy, and organic systems often include fishmeal from wild-caught fish. Both inputs have a significant impact on the environment. The Swedish initiative instead focuses on circular protein sources, ingredients that transform underutilised resources into valuable nutrition.
“We have already proven that fish can be raised on feed containing Swedish circular proteins derived from forestry, marine and food industry side streams. Now we are taking the next step and demonstrating that the same approach works for laying hens,” says Christian Sjöland, Project Manager at Axfoundation.
How mycoprotein is produced
The mycoprotein used in the project was developed by Seaqure Labs at its facility in Gothenburg. It is produced using solid-state fermentation (SSF). Johan Henriksson, CEO and co-founder of Seaqure Labs, explains: “The Seaqure Labs mycoprotein ingredients are produced using a production process called solid-state fermentation (SSF). This traditional fermentation process combines solid and liquid food-and agricultural side streams with fungal solutions in a controlled environment, similar to mushroom production and vertical farming. The recipes are fermented using the filamentous fungi, which improves the raw material’s nutritional composition and protein content.”
He adds: “With this technology, we can produce protein using very little land and with a significantly lower climate footprint than soy. This creates opportunities for a new domestic protein industry and reduced dependence on imports.” Seaqure Labs currently operates at pilot scale, but the approach is designed for modular expansion, offering potential for future growth.
Nutritional value and research findings
A key question for any soy alternative is whether it can meet the nutritional requirements of animal feed. According to researchers at SLU, mycoprotein shows strong potential. “The nutritional value of mycoprotein, including crude protein content and amino acid profile, varies depending on its production process and the substrate used. In the project Feed of the Future, the crude protein content of mycoprotein ranged from approximately 28% to 60%, compared to about 45% in soybean meal,” says Emma Ivarsson, Senior Lecturer in Animal Nutrition at SLU.
Ongoing trials with laying hens are delivering encouraging results. “Right now, we are testing a soy-free feed for laying hens and so far the results look promising, with maintained feed intake and egg production. Going forward, the Feed of the Future project will also test feed for poultry and pigs during 2026,” Ivarsson explains. She also points to earlier research: “Our research group at SLU has also previously done a study in which a partial replacement of soy with mycoprotein in starter feed for broilers was tested. In that study the production performance was comparable to the soy-based control feed and it was concluded that partial replacement of soy with mycoprotein is possible.”
From development to market
The soy-free feed has been formulated and produced by the Swedish company Svenska Foder. Lotta Waldenstedt, Product Manager Poultry at Svenska Foder, says: “Developing soy-free feed for laying hens aligns with our ambition to continuously evaluate new raw materials that can strengthen Swedish feed production. When ingredients like this show strong results both nutritionally and environmentally, it is natural for us to help scale them.”
The feed is currently being tested in real production conditions at SLU’s Swedish Livestock Research Centre. Sensory evaluations conducted at Axfoundation’s Torsåker Farm confirm that the eggs match conventional eggs in both taste and quality.
Scalability and economic considerations
While the technical feasibility of mycoprotein is well established, scaling production cost-effectively remains a key challenge. “The technology itself is proven, and mycoprotein is already produced at industrial scale in other applications. The main challenge is now less about technical feasibility and more about cost-efficient scale-up, market demand and building value chains around new feed ingredients,” says Christian Sjöland.
Johan Henriksson sees a similar perspective: “Mycoprotein is already being produced at industrial scale today. What remains is making that scalability more cost-efficient and globally accessible. That’s where we see solid-state fermentation (SSF) as the next step. It enables production using simple infrastructure and low-cost side streams, making it easy to scale through modular expansion.”
Cost competitiveness is another important factor. “Today, mycoprotein is generally not as cheap as a commodity soybean meal. But this is still a young industry, and costs can come down as production scales and processes improve. It is also important to look beyond the price alone,” says Sjöland. Henriksson adds: “Mycoprotein companies can find it challenging to compete with traditional soybean meal because of its very low, competitive market price. However, if the mycoprotein production can reach a higher protein content using low value sidestreams as feedstock, there is strong potential to compete with both soy protein concentrate and fishmeal in animal feed diets.”
Regulatory landscape and future outlook
From a regulatory standpoint, the use of food industry side streams in mycoprotein production has not encountered major barriers so far. However, further development is needed — particularly within the EU framework for organic production.
“So far, we haven’t come across any major regulatory obstacles for using food industry side streams in mycoprotein production for feed. The main gap at present is that the EU framework for organic mycoprotein production is still not fully in place,” says Christian Sjöland. He adds that clearer policy direction could accelerate progress: “For the industry to flourish, there is a need for such an organic framework. In addition, looking ahead, we believe stronger public targets and a clearer vision for biotech in food and feed would help unlock much more innovation and investment in the sector.”
