Tempeh for Tomorrow

India faces a growing food security challenge: a large and expanding population, uneven nutrition, and rising demand for affordable, sustainable protein. Tempeh, a fermented soy product, offers a compelling answer. It is nutritious, probiotic, plant-based, and costs roughly one-third of chicken per kilogram to produce.
Schouten Europe B.V., a Dutch family business and global innovator in plant-based foods, has developed Micro Fermentation Units (MFUs): compact, locally operated units that produce around 90 kg of tempeh per week. Since 2019, Schouten has successfully deployed these units in Pune and Bangalore. The next target: Baramati, Maharashtra, a soybean-growing region where Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences (HVHL) has collaborated with the Agricultural Development Trust Baramati (ADT) for over a decade in education, research, and agri-food innovation.
This KIEM project conducts a one-year feasibility study to determine whether a sustainable, locally embedded tempeh value chain can be established in Baramati. Three parallel research strands are investigated: (1) end-market potential, which product-market combinations are viable, at what price points?; (2) MFU operator eligibility, can Women's Self Help Groups realistically own and operate an MFU profitably?; and (3) soybean farmer supply, which local farmers can reliably supply sufficient quality soybeans at viable prices?
The consortium combines Schouten Europe's hands-on MFU expertise, HVHL's applied research capacity across food technology, agribusiness, and international development, and the research, education, and farm-science center Agricultural Development Trust – Baramati with its deep local networks with farmers, schools, and community organizations.
If the study confirms feasibility, Schouten will place an MFU in Baramati, creating a showcase for a scalable Indo-Dutch food innovation model, with potential to expand into a broader (RAAK) applied research project on climate resilient agro-food systems and an Indo-Dutch Food Hub in Baramati.