EUROGERM Is Building A New Sourdough Factory in France

EUROGERM debuted the construction of a new sourdough bio-fermentation plant at the beginning of 2023 in the Dijon-Bourgogne Ecoparc in Saint-Apollinaire, on the outskirts of Dijon. The plant represents an investment of €21 million, including €1.8 million in funding from the France Relance recovery fund. The plant will be operational in the first quarter of 2024. 

A specialist in breadmaking ingredients and solutions, and member of Grand Défi Ferments du Futur (a public fund for developing fermenting agents and fermented products), EUROGERM believes its future growth lies in France and, more specifically, in the research and production of innovative fermented ingredients: a strategic project for both the group and its customers. 

A research center and two bio-fermentation units 

As of 2022, EUROGERM has its own 600 m² research center in the form of the Eurogerm Technological Innovation Center (ETIC), and is now launching a pilot workshop for sourdoughs that will be produced in March 2023 on the same site in Quetigny. This facility will enable sourdough to be tested on a pre-industrial scale, providing a bespoke demonstration and co-development tool for the group’s customers. 

Due to be operational in 2024, the bio-fermentation plant will be dedicated to the production of 100% French sourdough. Construction work for the building, with its surface area of 3,650 m2 on a 13,000 m² plot of land, began in January 2023. The plant will open next year, in time for the group’s 35th birthday, with initial production forecasts of 400 tonnes of sourdough per year, gradually rising to a production capacity of 1,000 tonnes every year. In time, sourdough production at the facility will be accompanied by other innovative fermented ingredients.